page_title: Skull
section_title: Birds
hierarchical_section_title: Skull / Structure / Other vertebrates / Birds
caption_attribution_description: English: Skull of a Cuculus canorus https://archive.org/details/catalogueofspeci00shar
context_page_description: The skull is a bony structure that forms the head in vertebrates. It supports the structures of the face and provides a protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, these two parts are the neurocranium and the viscerocranium that includes the mandible as its largest bone. The skull forms the anterior-most portion of the skeleton and is a product of cephalisation—housing the brain, and several sensory structures such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. In humans these sensory structures are part of the facial 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 enable sound localisation of the direction and distance of sounds. In some animals, such as horned ungulates, the skull also has a defensive function by providing the mount for the horns.
  The English word "skull" is probably derived from Old Norse "skulle", while the Latin word cranium comes from the Greek root κρανίον.
context_section_description: Birds have a diapsid skull, as in reptiles, with a prelachrymal fossa (present in some reptiles). The skull has a single occipital condyle. The skull consists of five major bones: the frontal (top of head), parietal (back of head), premaxillary and nasal (top beak), and the mandible (bottom beak). The skull of a normal bird usually weighs about 1% of the bird's total bodyweight. The eye occupies a considerable amount of the skull and is surrounded by a sclerotic eye-ring, a ring of tiny bones. This characteristic is also seen in reptiles.
caption: Cuckoo skull
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