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Cranial sutures work collectively to distribute strain throughout the reptile skull

The function of cranial sutures in growing and mature skulls has been debated for decades because some sutures remain patent throughout life, while others fuse. This paper revealed a new role for patent sutures, discovered using combined MDA/FEA of a Sphenodon skull. It is the only analysis to have included all sutures in a skull model, and unexpectedly showed that patency leads to an overall higher level of strain throughout the skull for every bite point. Thus, sutures are not only sites of growth, but also control strain levels necessary for normal development and maintenance of bone in skulls.