Crocodilians are the largest reptilian predators alive today with some undergoing up to a 5000-fold increase in body mass during their development. In addition, many taxa can generate thousands of pounds of bite force as adults, far eclipsing the known capacities of other living predators. How they accomplish this anatomically is not well understood. Dr. Gignac’s research addresses the musculoskeletal biomechanics of force generation, jaw kinematics, and muscle physiology among crocodilians through anatomical dissection, mathematical modeling, comparative methods, and histochemical techniques to better understand how these systems change during feeding niche shifts and at cladogenic events. He pairs these data with studies of crocodilian dental anatomy using geometric morphometrics and finite element analyses to understand how the major anatomical modules of the vertebrate feeding system (cranial skeleton, jaw musculature, and dentition) interact to facilitate prey capture and subjugation. Understanding how these components function in living systems, Dr. Gignac then turns to the fossil record with living crocodilians as a model system to address the paleobiology and feeding biomechanics of their fossil relatives as well as their evolutionary cousins, non-avian theropod dinosaurs.