Crocodile Head Scales: The Mystery of Compressive Folding Unveiled

A study by researchers at the University of Geneva has uncovered that the irregular head scales of crocodiles are formed through compressive mechanical instabilities rather than tensile stress. This process occurs during embryonic development, where the skin grows faster than the bone beneath it, leading to the formation of polygonal scales. The findings, published in Nature, suggest that variations in head-scale patterns among crocodilians may be due to evolutionary differences in embryonic skin growth.