The potential of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) as an analytical technique in biological research has been widely highlighted in recent years. In spite of its great power, only in the best of circumstances one can compare the behaviour of models that differ in size and shape. Here, a new and easy procedure to scale FE models of plane elasticity is presented for several species of extant bovids that significantly differ in size and morphology. The method is based on the modification of the values of the forces applied by taking into account the particularities of the elasticity plane models (plane strain and plane stress equations) using quasi-homothetic transformations. This approach is shown to be extremely useful when exploring the effect of the shape in front of the strength and the stiffness of vertebrate bone structures. Thus, the quasihomothetic concept is a new and interesting proposal to be used in plane elasticity models of biological, and specifically of vertebrate, structures which can be modelled as two-dimensional finite element models.

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Flexible Multibody System Dynamics (FMSD) is a simulation technique that can be used to study the behavior of the mechanical systems that consists of one or more deformable bodies. A deformable body can be modeled using a number of approaches while the floating frame of reference formulation is a widely used approach. In that approach, flexibility within Multibody System Dynamics (MSD) is described by employing the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with a modal reduction approach. The applicability of an FMSD in the feeding mechanism of vertebrate structures is tested in order to utilize the potential of the method in biological research. Flexible Multibody System Dynamics is explored studying the feeding mechanism in a skull of Edingerella madagascariensis. Firstly, a static structural analysis is done using FEA and secondly, dynamic solutions based on FMSD are obtained by varying the number of deformation modes used in the modal reduction analysis. The conclusion is that use of this approach is feasible and efficient for the study of feeding mechanisms in vertebrate structures when a dynamic response should be evaluated.