Data from: Unravelling the difference in craniofacial morphology of Yucatan miniature and standard pigs during postnatal ontogeny

This study characterized postnatal skull growth and development, and
morphological variations in Yucatan and standard (domestic) pigs, with a
focus on the role of joint maturation in resulting craniofacial
dysmorphology. Using imaging processing, craniometric measurement and
geometric morphometric approaches, it reveals that while both breeds share
a similar skull morphology at birth and exhibit allometric growth
patterns, Yucatans develop a shorter midface and more compact
neurocranium. Notably, Yucatans show delayed suture fusion compared to
standard pigs, suggesting differences in joint maturation influence
craniofacial form. These findings emphasizing the interactions with organ
development, cavity expansion, and joint maturation during postnatal
ontogeny, offering insights into mechanisms driving craniofacial
diversification in pig models. This dataset includes quantitative cranial
measurement data from 40 pig specimens (Yucatan: n = 20, ages 0–12 months;
standard: n = 20, ages 0–8 months), covering: (1) 24 linear measurements
of facial, calvarial and mandibular dimensions; (2) 3 angular measurements
of cranial vault, skull base and mandible; (3) Volumetric measurements
capturing the size changes of intracranial, orbital and nasal cavities;
(4) Calvarial thickness across the cranial vault; (5) Cranial joint gap
width at 30 anatomical locations across the cranial sutures and
synchondroses. All raw and preprocessed data were saved in a rda file, and
a fully annotated R script is provided as part of this dataset. This
script enables reproduction of morphometric and statistical analyses
presented in the study, which include: (1) Principal component analysis
(PCA) to explore morphological variations in skull form and shape; (2)
Pearson's correlation test to evaluate relations between the use of
different landmark configurations; (3) Multivariate regressions to
investigate ontogenetic allometry; (4) Partial least squares (PLS)
analysis to assess covariation patterns either between anatomical
substructures or between breeds