struggling prey, diverting these powerful forces away from the fragile canines. Similar ridges have been identified on the machairodont Homotherium. The postcanine teeth were reduced in both size and number; many rubidgeines (the latest gorgonopsians) did not have postcanines in the lower jaw, and Clelandina lacked them entirely. Gorgonopsians were polyphyodonts, and teeth grew continuously throughout an individual's life. Like some therapsids, while there was one functional canine, another canine was growing to replace it when it inevitably broke off. The left and right sides of the jaws did not have to be synchronous, so, for example, the first canine on the left side could be functional while the first canine on the right side was still growing. Such a method might have been in play so as always to have a set of functional canines, as having a single or no canines would have severely impeded hunting, and growing such large teeth took a long time. On the other hand, because the functional canine is typically found in the foremost tooth socket (instead of equal occurrence in either socket), it is possible that canine replacement occurred a finite number of times, and the animal would eventually be left with a single, permanent set of functional canines in these sockets. In 1984, British palaeontologists Doris and Kenneth Kermack suggested that the canines grew to match the size of the skull, and continually broke off until the animal stopped growing, and that gorgonopsians featured an early version of finite tooth replacement exhibited in many mammals. The tooth replacement patterns of the other teeth are unclear. The postcanine teeth were replaced more slowly than the other teeth, likely due to their lack of functional significance. Postcranium The seven cervical vertebrae (in the neck) are all the same size as each other except for the last one, which is shorter and lower; there is one atlas and one axis. Like sabre-toothed cats, the neck is long with well developed muscles, which would have been especially useful when the canines were sunk into an animal. Like other early synapsids, gorgonopsians have a single occipital condyle, and the articulation (the joints) of the cervical vertebrae is overall reptilian, permitting side-to-side movement of the head but restricting up-and-down motion. The last cervical is shaped more like the dorsal vertebrae. The dorsals are spool-shaped and all appear about the same as each other. The spinous processes jut