Morphological Studies on Cranial Cavity, Nasal Cavity and Dentition of Indian Blackbuck ( Antilope Cervicapra )

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE Morphological Studies on Cranial Cavity, Nasal Cavity and Dentition of Indian Blackbuck ( Antilope cervicapra )

Om Prakash Choudhary and Ishwer Singh

1Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University, Selesih, Aizawl-796 014, Mizoram, India. 2Department of Veterinary Anatomy, College of Veterinary and Animal Science, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263 145, Uttarakhand, India.

Abstract The cranial cavity was an ovoid cavity being elongated posteriorly, *Corresponding Author: situated on the dorsal aspect of the nasal sinus. The superior wall or roof of

Om Prakash Choudhary the cranial cavity in Indian blackbuck was formed by supraoccipital, interparietal, parietal and frontal bones. The nasal cavity was a longitudinal Email: [email protected] passage which extended through the upper part of the face. It was divided into right and left almost equal halves by a median septum nasi. The upper incisor and canine were absent, premolars and molars were three. The Received: 01/06/2016 lower incisors were three, canine was one, premolars and molars were three in Indian blackbuck. The total numbers of teeth in blackbuck were thirty Revised: 21/06/2016 two . 2 I C P M Accepted: 25/06/2016 Keywords : Cranial cavity, Nasal cavity, Dentition, Blackbuck.

1. Introduction Letter No. F, 3 (02) Tech-II/CCF/2010/714 dated The Indian blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra ) is 07.05.2014. The skeletons were dug out from the an ungulate species of antelope native to the Indian graveyards located in the premises of Jodhpur zoo. The subcontinent that has been classified as near threatened skulls of blackbuck were macerated using the hot by IUCN since 2003, as its range has decreased sharply water maceration technique as described by during the 20 th century. The blackbuck is protected Choudhary and Singh (2016). The gross studies on under Schedule “I” of the Indian Wildlife Protection skull of blackbuck were carried out in Jodhpur zoo Act, 1972. Gross anatomy along with applied aspects under supervision of the zoo personals. For of skull and mandible of blackbuck has been studied in measurement of the capacity of the cranial cavity; all detail (Choudhary and Singh, 2015a; 2015b; the foramina of the cranial cavity were plugged with Choudhary et al. , 2015a and 2015b). The aim of this cotton. Then cranial cavity was filled with mustard study is to investigate the cranial cavity, nasal cavity grains through the foramen magnum up to its brim. The and dentition of blackbuck, thereby making a mustard grains were then emptied into a measuring 3 contribution in filling the gap of knowledge in this field cylinder to get the capacity in cm . The dental formula and making literature useful to the field veterinarians as of the Indian blackbuck was calculated as per the well as zoo veterinarians. universal notation system of teeth (Rashmi, 2014).

2. Materials and Methods 3. Results and Discussion The present study was conducted on six skull of adult Indian blackbuck of either sex. The permission 3.1 Cranial Cavity for the specimen collection was sought from the The cranial cavity was an ovoid cavity being Deputy Inspector General (WL), Ministry of elongated posteriorly, situated on the dorsal aspect of Environment and Forests (MoEF), New Delhi, India the nasal sinus. The superior wall or roof of the cranial and Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), cavity was formed by supraoccipital, interparietal, Government of Rajasthan. The skeletons were collected parietal and frontal bones. The lateral walls were from the Jodhpur zoo after official approvals from the formed by occipital, parietal, temporal and frontal Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) vide bones as reported in ox (Raghavan, 1964), in yak

Journal of Wildlife Research | April-June, 2016 | Vol 4 | Issue 2| Pages 35-37 © 2016 Jakraya Publications (P) Ltd Choudhary and Singh… Morphological Studies on Cranial Cavity, Nasal Cavity and Dentition of Indian Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)

(Archana et al., 1998) and in chital (Ramswarup, In the present study, upper incisor and canine 2011). The anterior or nasal wall of cranial cavity was teeth were absent, premolars and molars were three. formed by the cribriform plate of ethmoid, which The lower incisors were three, canine was one; separates the cranium with nasal cavity as also reported premolars and molars were three in Indian blackbuck. by Raghavan (1964) in ox, Getty (1975) in horse and The total number of teeth in Indian blackbuck were Ramswarup (2011) in chital. The ventral extremity was thirty two 2 I C P M as reported in sheep blind while the dorsal extremity terminated in a large (Rashmi, 2014), ox (Raghavan, 1964), ruminants opening: the foramen magnum as reported in ox (Getty, 1975) and chital (Ramswarup, 2011); whereas (Raghavan, 1964), in yak (Archana et al., 1998) and in the total number of teeth were forty two in dog chital (Ramswarup, 2011). From dorso-lateral to the internal acoustic meatus, there was a cerebral fossa in 2 I C P M (Rashmi, 2014); forty four Blackbuck as reported in dog (Miller et al. , 1964) and in horse and pig (Getty, 1975); in tiger (Joshi, 2004). The capacity of cranial cavity 2 I C P M was 107.83±0.86 cm 3 in blackbuck, while it was thirty two in tiger (Joshi, 2004). 3 2 I C P M 130.86±11.55 cm in Mehraban sheep (Karimi et al., 2011) and 113±0.84 cm 3 in Kagani goat (Sarma, 2006). 4. Conclusion 3.2 Nasal Cavity The cranial cavity was an ovoid cavity being elongated posteriorly, situated on the dorsal aspect of The nasal cavity was a longitudinal passage the nasal sinus as in ox, sheep, ruminants, and chital. which extended through the upper part of the face. It The nasal cavity was a longitudinal passage which was divided into right and left halves by a median extended through the upper part of the face. The total septum nasi as also reported by Raghavan (1964) in ox, Getty (1975) in horse and Ramswarup (2011) in chital. numbers of teeth were thirty two 2 (I C P M ) The lateral walls of the nasal cavity were formed by the in Indian blackbuck ox, ruminants and chital. maxilla, premaxilla and perpendicular part of the palatine bones as mentioned by Raghavan (1964) in ox. Acknowledgements The floor of the nasal cavity was longer than its roof as The authors are grateful to the Ministry of reported by Joshi (2004) in tiger and in contrast to the Environment and Forests (MoEF), New Delhi and horse (Getty, 1975). The osseous nasal aperture was Jodhpur Zoo for providing facilities and support for bound by the nasal process and a body of incisive and carrying out research on the bones of blackbuck. The nasal bones as reported by Miller et al. (1964) in dog, funding was provided by the Department of Science Raghavan (1964) in ox and Getty (1975) in horse. and Technology, New Delhi, India as Ph.D. grant (DST-INSPIRE Fellowship) to the first author. 3.3 Dentition

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Journal of Wildlife Research | April-June, 2016 | Vol 4 | Issue 2 | Pages 35-37 © 2016 Jakraya Publications (P) Ltd 36 Choudhary and Singh… Morphological Studies on Cranial Cavity, Nasal Cavity and Dentition of Indian Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)

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