THE TONGUE OF FOUR EUROPEAN WILD RUMINANT SPECIES -MORPHOLOGY AND EXTRINSIC MUSCLES

Document Type : Research article

Author

Abstract

The form, sturucture and measurements of the tongue as well as the extrinsic lingual muscles of 4 small and medium-sized wild European ruminant species of different feeding types as classified by HOF MANN (1976) were fully described. These representatives include the roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, and mouflon. The results were compared with other domestic species, the most characteristic species differnces were shown and the results were expressed in 2 plates, 1 table and 1 figure.
The common morphological features of the tongue is found to be similar in all species studied and conform the other domestic species. However, distinct species variations, specially in the distribution of the lingual papillae, were observed.