From womb to maturity: Prenatal and postnatal cranial growth in goat ( Capra hircus )

The skull is a key marker of morphological diversity in terms of ontogeny andphylogeny; however, prenatal growth patterns in mammals remain poorlyunderstood. Changes in skull growth from embryonic to postnatal stages areinfluenced by multiple factors, including the maturity of offspring at birthwithin the altricial-precocial continuum, dietary transitions during the postnatalperiod, and the development of secondary cranial structures such as horns.In this study, we analyzed pre- and postnatal skull growth in goat (Capra hircus)using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics and linear allometry.Our results indicate that the cranial growth pattern exhibited a developmentalshift between the prenatal and postnatal stages in which it deviated from a singlecontinuous trajectory, thus revealing marked differences that becameaccentuated in adulthood. Prenatal and postnatal ontogenetic allometry differedsignificantly, with the prenatal phase displaying a comparatively highergrowth rate in cranial variables associated with the splanchnocranium andneurocranium. These findings suggest that goats exhibit prenatal and postnatalgrowth strategies that are consistent with those of precocial mammals. Stagespecificallometric changes in the neurocranium and splanchnocranium alignwith different functional roles throughout development. The development ofhorns alters cranial morphology, thereby placing adults in a distinct positionwithin the multivariate morphospace.