diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index a9d1eca421..1f1fd245be 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ Build
 
 - Added compatibility with USD 25.11 and 26.03.
 
+API
+---
+
+- Primitive : Added default type to templated function variableData.
+
 10.7.0.0a6 (relative to 10.7.0.0a5)
 ==========
 
diff --git a/include/IECoreScene/Primitive.h b/include/IECoreScene/Primitive.h
index e73dac3fe3..6ed1a3262c 100644
--- a/include/IECoreScene/Primitive.h
+++ b/include/IECoreScene/Primitive.h
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@ class IECORESCENE_API Primitive : public VisibleRenderable
 		/// would not be sufficient for manipulating the PrimitiveVariable. To access indexed
 		/// variables, either call expandedVariableData and take ownership of the copied data,
 		/// or get them directly from the PrimitiveVariableMap to manipulate them in-place.
-		template<typename T>
+		template<typename T = IECore::Data>
 		T *variableData( const std::string &name, PrimitiveVariable::Interpolation requiredInterpolation=PrimitiveVariable::Invalid );
-		template<typename T>
+		template<typename T = IECore::Data>
 		const T *variableData( const std::string &name, PrimitiveVariable::Interpolation requiredInterpolation=PrimitiveVariable::Invalid ) const;
 		/// Use expandedVariableData() to find a named variable, expand indices if they exist,
 		/// and cast to the requested data type. If the variable is not indexed, a direct copy