In most of the carnivores, the snout is long and narrow but, in the Felidae, which is the most specialized of the carnivore families, the face, including the palate and the upper and lower jaws, is broad and short; the number of molars is reduced to one in each quadrant. Positional variations in the various carnivore families are summarized in Table 11.1.

Family Felidae. 1236 specimens examined

In the normal arrangement of the teeth in Felidae, the upper incisors are in a nearly straight line and the buccal surfaces of the four upper post-canine teeth form straight lines which diverge sharply; the minute M1 (Fig. 11.1) is situated against the lingual surface of the distal end of P4. The general shape of the mandibular arch is similar, but the mesial surface of the carnassial M1 is oblique and is overlapped buccally by P4.

The more common variations in position are (i) irregularity or crowding of the mandibular incisors, with I3 misplaced labially; (ii) rotation of P3 and less frequently of P2; (iii) increase in the overlap of Mi by P4. The variations found in the various species of felids are summarized in Table 11.2.

Table 11.2 shows that irregularities in position are more common in lions (Panthera leo) than in other members of genus Panthera. A feature of lions is that the upper premolars may either be in contact or slightly spaced. The amount of spacing can be measured by calculating the length of the upper cheek teeth as a percentage of the length of the palate. The lower the percentage the greater the amount of space.