In fact, a crocodile’s head scales even differ significantly ... The hormone caused a dramatic change in the skin pattern, confirming their suspicions. “We saw that the embryo’s skin folds ...

As the crocodile’s skin grows rapidly ... the embryos developed elaborate, brain-like patterns of folds. When the treatment was stopped early enough, the skin partially relaxed back into ...

The researchers also observed the head scale patterns of the Marsh crocodile, spectacled Caiman, and American alligator species by adjusting the mechanical properties of the skin in the model. “These ...

With slight tweaks to how fast or thick the skin grows, they were able to recreate the patterns of several crocodile species that looked pretty different. Traditionally, biologists would seek to ...