Topic summary
Supraorbital ridge
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Brow ridge.
Other animals
The size of these ridges varies also between different species of primates, either living or fossil. The closest living relatives of humans, the great apes and especially gorillas or chimpanzees, have a very pronounced supraorbital ridge, which has also been called a frontal torus, while in modern humans and orangutans, it is relatively reduced. The fossil record indicates that the supraorbital ridge in early hominins was reduced as the cranial vault grew; the frontal portion of the brain became positioned above rather than behind the eyes, giving a more vertical forehead.