LANDRY, S.O.: The Carnivore Skull as a Clinker-Built Hull.

Ancient mediterranean ships’ hulls were “carvel built”, that is, the strakes (longitudinal planks of the hull) were fastened to each other edge-to-edge by mortise and tenon, whereas the Vikings and other sailors of the northern seas, used “clinker built” hulls, in which the strakes overlapped each other laterally and were held together by clench nails. It is thought that clinker built hulls are better able to resist the poundidng of the rough northern seas. This may be because the overlapping planks can, to a small degree, ride up over each other without starting (springing leaks.) Specifically, clinker built hulls appear better able to resist torsion. In carnivores, canine teeth are used asymmetrically; that is, stress is predominantly on one side producing torsion at the rear end of the skull. Overlap of bones is quite common in mammals, but a deep, scarfed overlap of the squamosal over the parietal is found in carnivores, suggesting that skull structure may parallel clinker construction, for the same mechanical reason. In addtion, the ossified tentorium cerebelli of carnivores may serve the same purpose as a rib in a ship’s hull in resisting torsional deformation.