Abstract
ASYMMETRY in mammalian skulls is a rare phenomenon. Differential tusk usage in elephants may result in slight skull asymmetry1, and the Odontoceti (toothed whales) invariably show marked skull asymmetry caused by suppression of the nasal passage on one side. This is carried to an extreme in the Narwhal, in which a long tusk is almost always developed on the left side only.
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References
Sikes, S. K., The African Elephant (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1971).
Hoadley, M. D., and Pearson, K., Biometrika, 21, 94 (1929).
Coolidge, H. J., Revision of the Genus Gorilla (Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 50, No. 4, Cambridge, Mass., 1929).
Schaller, G. B., The Mountain Gorilla (Chicago University Press, 1963).
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GROVES, C., HUMPHREY, N. Asymmetry in Gorilla Skulls: Evidence of Lateralized Brain Function?. Nature 244, 53–54 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244053a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/244053a0
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