Ontogenetic changes in the brain and sensory systems play an essential role in shaping behavioral performance and ecological specialization in vertebrates; however, these developmental pathways are inadequately recorded in endangered crocodylians....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
No actionable change; this is a comparative anatomy study in a reptile species with no direct clinical application to human audiology practice.
Comparative inner-ear anatomy studies in non-mammalian vertebrates can inform evolutionary models of vestibular and auditory system development, which are of academic interest to auditory neuroscientists.
- 01Study maps changes in the brain cavity (endocast) and bony inner-ear labyrinth of Siamese freshwater crocodiles across growth stages.
- 02Crocodilian sensory anatomy provides an evolutionary reference point for understanding vertebrate hearing and balance systems.
- 03Developmental (ontogenetic) trajectories of auditory and vestibular structures are described across life stages.
- 04No human subjects; findings are relevant to evolutionary biology and comparative anatomy, not clinical practice.
- 05Contributes to the limited dataset of crocodilian inner-ear morphology data.
- PMID
- 42898058
- DOI
- 10.6620/ZS.2026.65-42.
- Journal
- Zoological Studies
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Siamese freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) specimens at multiple ontogenetic stages
- Intervention
- Comparative morphological analysis of endocast and endosseous labyrinth across developmental stages
Primary outcomes
Ontogenetic changes in endocast morphology; Ontogenetic changes in endosseous labyrinth structure