Skulls symmetry of

Abstract

Three common categories of bilateral asymmetry have been described: directional asymmetry, antisymmetry, and FA (fluctuating asymmetry). FA is the most subtle of the three types of asymmetry, and differs from the patterns of the others in that paired structures tend to be symmetric in size. The analysis of FA allows to estimate the influence of stress factors on animal development and enables evaluation of resistance to stress. The aim of this work was to estimate the symmetry of skulls of a contemporary pure goat breed, as there is currently no study of FA as an estimate of individual quality for domestic goats. For this purpose, 11 landmarks were digitized in two dimensions from the crania of 24 adult goats (12 males and 12 females) belonging to the"White Rasquera" breed. The skulls showed nearly perfect bilateral symmetry. The low detected values of FA in skulls revealed a weak influence of developmental stress on this goat contemporary population and its strong ability to compensate stress.