brachycephaly
Sign in to saveBrachycephaly (from Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús), meaning "short", and κεφαλή (kephalḗ), meaning "head") is the shape of a skull shorter than average in its species. It is perceived as a cosmetically desirable trait in some domesticated dog and cat breeds, notably the pug and Persian, and can be normal or abnormal in other animal species.
Key facts
- Medical condition.name
- Brachycephaly
- Medical condition.synonyms
- Brachycephalic
- Medical condition.image
- PSM V52 D333 Brachycephalic and dolichocephalic types from the coast of zeeland.jpg
- Medical condition.alt
- Black and white photos of two skulls. The brachycephalic skull is on the left and a dolichocephalic skull is on the right.
- Medical condition.caption
- Brachycephaly and dolichocephaly
- Medical condition.field
- Medical genetics
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- cephalic index
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- Brachycephaly
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- As a trait in pets
- Treatment
- See also
- References
- External links
Brachycephaly (from Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús), meaning "short", and κεφαλή (kephalḗ), meaning "head") is the shape of a skull shorter than average in its species. It is perceived as a cosmetically desirable trait in some domesticated dog and cat breeds, notably the pug and Persian, and can be normal or abnormal in other animal species.
In humans, brachycephaly can appear both pathologically and non-pathologically as a result of normal human variation. It is particularly common in Mongolians and the Andamanese.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “brachycephaly” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.