them to reach branches at great distances. The relatively small body of Palaeopropithecus, while large compared to the modern lemur, had a great degree curve because it was smaller in stature. There is an inverse relationship between the bigger the animal and the smaller the bone degree curve. Biomechanical theory suggests that bone curvature in Palaeopropithecus hand bones is linked to the functional demands of the organism's environment. This is because curved phalanges, such as the phalanges of Palaeopropithecus, are commonly associated with the gripping function needed to survive in an arboreal habitat. Diet The Palaeopropithecus species were probably folivorous based on dental morphology, consuming a mixed diet of foliage and fruit to varying degrees. They supplemented their leaf-eating with substantial amounts of seed-predation, much like modern indrids. There is also no molar use wear evidence that Palaeopropithecus relied on terrestrial foods (C4 grasses, tubers, rhizomes). P. ingens faced weaning early on and lost their deciduous teeth early. After a little over a month they learned and were able to forage for solid food much earlier than other lemur species. More than likely P. ingens had to find food for themselves at an early age. The degree to how much of their diet consisted of seeds is somewhat uncertain but because of the pitting of the teeth it is clear they ate seeds. Palaeopropithecus ingens and P. maximus have similar use-wear scars. These were apparently mixed fruit and foliage consumers; neither species appears to have been a hard-object specialist. P. kelyus had smaller teeth than the other two species. Its dental characteristics could be described from the P. kelyus subfossil maxilla fragmentshowing a parastyle and a highly developed mesostyle. While other Palaeopropithecus must have fed on leaves and fruit, the differences in the teeth of Palaeopropithecus kelyus suggest that this animal could chew much more food like nuts and seeds compared with the other two known species. Evidence is accumulating that they may survive on low quality (that is highly fibrous) staple or fallback foods and a life-history "strategy" of low maternal input and slow returns in an unpredictable and periodically stressful environment. Palaeopropithecus was the most suspensory of all known strepsirhines, and so they would feed in suspensory postures. Locomotion on the ground would have been ungainly, and probably quite rare, except to creep across the ground from one feeding tree to the next when presented with gaps in