The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.
The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates. The skull is a part of the skeleton.
Functions of the skull include protection of the brain, fixing the distance between the eyes to allow stereoscopic vision, and fixing the position of the ears to help the brain use auditory cues to judge direction and distance of sounds. In some animals, the skull also has a defensive function (e.g. horned ungulates); the frontal bone is where horns are mounted.
The English word "skull" is probably derived from Old Norse "skalli" meaning bald, while the Latin word cranium comes from the Greek root κρανίον (kranion).
The skull is made of flat bones. The human skull is usually 7 mm thick
Read more about Skull: Fish Skulls, Tetrapod Skulls, Fenestrae, Human Skull, Bones, Terminology, Gallery
Other articles related to "skull, skulls":
... The Hofmeyr Skull is a specimen of a 37,000 year old human skull found in 1952 ... It is one of the very few modern human skulls discovered in Africa south of Ethiopia and older than 20,000 years ...
... Suddenly, a floating skull character, who is one of the Skull Brothers, captures Judy into a bubble, and sends her and Bub into the air ... Two characters named Drunk (from the original Bubble Bobble) follow the skull and take Judy away ... people from a village, who, according to this version's intro, have been captured by a skull character ...
... Paracyclotosaurus davidi skull, a prehistoric amphibian species Tyrannosaurus rex skull, a dinosaur species Alligator skull, a reptile species An elephant skull, a mammal species ...
... However, the Fendahl escaped and, in the form of a humanoid skull, was buried under volcanic rock on prehistoric Earth 12 million years ago ... The Fendahl's power, contained in a pentagram-shaped neural relay in the bones of the skull, affected life on Earth via a biotransmutation field, influencing life forms in its vicinity (including the early hominids ... In the late 20th century, the Fendahl skull was discovered in Kenya by a team of anthropologists under the leadership of one Dr ...
... On February 25, 1866, miners found a human skull in a mine, beneath a layer of lava, 130 feet (40 m) below the surface of the earth, which made it into the hands of Josiah Whitney, then the State ... A year before the skull came to his attention, Whitney had published the aforementioned belief of humans, mastodons, and elephants having coexisted and the skull only served as proof of his ... that a miner had told a minister that the skull was planted as a practical joke ...
Famous quotes containing the word skull:
“The affirmative class monopolize the homage of mankind. They originate and execute all the great feats. What a force was coiled up in the skull of Napoleon!”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“No throne exists that has a right to exist, and no symbol of it, flying from any flagstaff, is righteously entitled to wear any device but the skull and crossbones of that kindred industry which differs from royalty only businesswise-merely as retail differs from wholesale.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Locked in each human skull is a little world all its own.”
—Robert Tusker, and Michael Curtiz. Dr. Xavier (Lionel Atwill)