View source for Snout

{{Short description|Extended part of an animal's mouth}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Tapirus.terrestris.flehmen.jpg|thumb|[[Tapir]] ''(Tapirus terrestris)'' snout showing [[flehmen]]]]
A '''snout''' is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a '''muzzle''',<ref name="EvansLahunta2013">{{cite book|author1=Howard E. Evans|author2=Alexander de Lahunta|title=Miller's Anatomy of the Dog - E-Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6eBOAQAAQBAJ&q=muzzle|date=7 August 2013|publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences|isbn=978-0-323-26623-9}}</ref> '''[[Rostrum (anatomy)|rostrum]]''', or '''[[proboscis]].''' The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many [[mammals]] is called the [[rhinarium]] (colloquially this is the "cold wet snout" of some mammals). The rhinarium is often associated with a stronger sense of [[olfaction]].
==Variation==
[[File:AmersfoortZooYoungAsianElephant.jpg|thumb|[[Asian elephant]] ''(Elephas maximus indicus)''. The extended [[proboscis]] is called the "trunk" and is used for a wide range of purposes, including [[eating]], [[drinking]], [[exploration]], and [[social grooming]].]]
Snouts are found on many mammals in a variety of shapes. Some animals, including ursines and great cats, have box-like snouts, while others, like shrews, have pointed snouts. [[Pig]] snouts are flat and cylindrical.
===Primates===
[[Strepsirrhine]] primates have muzzles, as do [[baboons]]. [[Great apes]] have reduced muzzles, with the exception being human beings, whose [[face]] does not have protruding jaws nor a snout but merely a [[human nose]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkins |first1=Adam |title=Making Faces |chapter=History of the Face II: From Early Primates to Modern Humans |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=The Belknap Press |year=2017 |page=196 |isbn=9780674725522 }}</ref>
===Dogs===
The muzzle begins at the [[Stop (dog)|stop]], just below the eyes, and includes the dog's nose and mouth. In the domestic dog, most of the upper muzzle contains organs for detecting [[scent]]s.  The loose flaps of skin on the sides of the upper muzzle that hang to different lengths over the [[mouth]] are called '''flews'.''
The muzzle is innervated by one of the twelve pairs of cranial nerves, which start in the brain and emerge through the skull to their target organs. Other destinations of these nerves are the eyeballs, teeth and tongue.
The muzzle shape of a [[domestic dog]] ranges in shape depending upon the [[dog breed|breed]], from extremely long and thin (dolichocephalic), as in the [[Rough Collie]], to nearly nonexistent because it is so flat (extreme [[brachycephalic]]), as in the [[pug]]. Some breeds, such as many [[sled dogs]] and [[spitz]] types, have muzzles that somewhat resemble the original [[wolf]]'s in size and shape, and others in the less extreme range have shortened it somewhat (mesocephalic) as in many hounds.
{{Gallery|File:Lamtara Golden Spritzer.jpg|[[Dolichocephalic]] (long and thin snout): [[Rough Collie]]
|File:Cocker spaniel angielski zloty photoshop.jpg|[[Mesocephalic]] (medium length snout): [[English Cocker Spaniel]]
|File:Pug 600.jpg|[[Brachycephalic]] (extremely flat snout): [[Pug]]
|File:BTCoonhnd.jpg|The flews of the [[Black and Tan Coonhound]] overhang the lower jaw.
}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary inline}}
[[Category:Animal head]]
[[Category:Dog anatomy]]
[[Category:Face]]