COMPARATIVE GROSS ANATOMICAL STUDIES OF THE SKULL OF
ONE-HUMPED CAMEL (CAMELUS
DROMEDARIUS)
R.
U. Shahid and R. Kausar
Department of Veterinary
Anatomy,
University
of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Abstract
The
skull of camel when viewed from above was irregularly pentagonal in outline.
It was widest in the frontal region and contained the orbits laterally. The
occipital bone formed the entire nuchal surface and encroached upon the
dorsal surface about 1.75 to 2 inches. It joined the parietal bone at
transverse suture. A rough transverse ridge separated the parietal and
nuchal surfaces. The mastoid foramen was very large and situated in a deep
fossa in the occipital bone in contrast to ox, where it lay at the junction
of occipital and temporal bones. The cornual processes were absent. The
supraorbital foramen was in the form of a deep fissure, at the rostrolateral
margin of the orbit. There was no maxillary tuberosity and facial crest. The
pre maxilla had a dorsomedially concave and narrow pointed body. The nasal
bones were notched rostromedially and nasal apertures were oval in outline.
The body of mandible was long, narrow and concave dorsomedially. The
intermandibular space was āVā shaped. The vertical ramus of mandible was
thin and convex caudally and the angles were not pronounced, while the
rostral border was thick and wide. The coronoid process was almost straight
with caudal end slightly pointed.The condyliod process was large and its dorsal surface contained the
extensive articular surfaces, which were convex. There was a shallow
mandibular notch.The
mandibular foramen was in the middle of the medial surface of the ramus of
mandible.