Q&A with Kent Dunlap, author of "The Neck"
The Neck: A Natural and Cultural History is a 300-million-year tour of the prominent role of the neck in animal evolution and human culture. The book delves into evolutionary time to solve a living paradox—why is our neck so central to our survival and culture, but so vulnerable to injury and disease?
Biologist Kent Dunlap shows how the neck's vulnerability is not simply an unfortunate quirk of evolution. Its weaknesses are intimately connected to the vessels, pipes, and glands that make it so vital to existence. Fun and far-reaching, The Neck explores the diversity of forms and functions of the neck in humans and other animals and shows how this small anatomical transition zone has been a locus of incredible evolutionary and cultural creativity.
Kent Dunlap is Professor of Biology at Trinity College, Hartford, where he teaches physiology and anatomy and conducts research on the neurobiology and behavior of fishes (animals without necks!). In the summers, he also makes pottery and sculpts ceramic animals.
What motivated you to write The Neck?
I became especially interested in the neck when, at school, I was teaching anatomy and, in my backyard, making ceramic vases—pots with necks. I spent a long time thinking about the incredible diversity of necks among vertebrates, as well as the neck as a locus of beauty in humans and vases. It seemed so curious that this small region of the body (or vase) is such a region of grace and vitality, but also of deep vulnerability. This set me off on a search through biology and culture to make sense of this tension, part beautiful, part disturbing, concentrated at the neck.
What was something that surprised you as you were researching this book?
While I was always aware of the neck as an important transit site between the torso and head, I was shocked to calculate exactly how much fluid and air pass through these tubes every day. Even on our laziest days, when our heart and breathing rate are at rest, we humans transport over 3000 gallons of air, blood, and food through the neck, adding up to over a ton of material moving up or down. Nothing short of daily heroics.
Is there a particular neck in your research that you continue to be fascinated by?
I continue to be fascinated by the necks of turtles. One group of turtles, hidden-necked turtles, pull their head into their shell by bending it in a vertical S-shape, while another lineage, side-necked turtles, swing their neck to the side to tuck the head under the side of their shell. I would love to learn what drove these divergent head-hiding behaviors (and anatomies) during evolution.
What are some of the things that we, humans, can learn from the diversity of necks among animals and how they have evolved?
As diverse as animal necks are, they are usually constrained by a trade-off between multiple functions. The neck is the ultimate multitasker, crucial in most species for holding and moving the head, swallowing, breathing, vocalizing, and secreting hormones. But sometimes these functions conflict, and it is impossible to optimize the neck for all its functions. This is born out repeatedly in human evolution. For example, over evolution, the human larynx (voice box) descended to a lower position in the throat, and this was likely important in enabling us to generate the large range of sounds used in speech. However, this descent also created a relatively large space above the larynx that makes us particularly susceptible to our throat momentarily collapsing at night for periods of breathlessness (sleep apnea).
Your book looks at how the neck been adorned and honored, but also exploited and controlled. What can observing the neck’s contradictory nature teach us about our culture?
The neck’s narrow shape and closeness to the head make it a particularly convenient place for display. As an anatomical “signpost”, we can hang emblems of beauty, status, and identity at the neck. Think of necklaces, ties, and collars that might convey our aesthetic taste, our wealth or even our membership into different social groups. Near the head, ornaments at the neck are within the same glance as the face and often provide a “caption” to our visage. But the narrowness and vulnerability of the neck also makes it a site where humans have placed shackles and nooses. In many regards, the ways humans have used the neck reveals both our most creative and cruel impulses.
Learn more about The Neck.