COMPARATIVELY MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF THE HEAD SKELETON IN SOME SPECIES OF SUIDAE FAMILY

R. Mihaylov, R. Dimitrov, K. Stamatova-Yovcheva, D. Yovchev, St. Stoyanov

Abstract: The aim of the study was to make a comparative craniological analysis of wild and domestic swine and warthog. We investigated the head skeleton of 27 individuals belonging to 3 animal species of fam¬ily Suidae – wild swine (Sus scrofa scrofa), domestic swine (Sus scrofa familiaris) and warthog (Phaco¬choerus africanus). The values of 9 craniological parameters, were determined. In domestic swine the head skeleton was shorter, compared to the wild swine and warthog. Domestic swine’s condylobasal length was the greatest. The facial skeleton was more developed than the brain one that proves thesis that face’s shortening is connected with adaptation to predation. Wild swine’s head skeleton shape dif¬fered to this of domestic swine and warthog. Greater height of domestic swine’s brain cranium was resulted by the fact that its frontal bones are not plate and they form an angle along them. The brain cav¬ity’s volume is the greatest in the wild swine, which probably is an advantage for mammals’surviving.

Keywords: craniometry; osteology; wild and domestic swine and warthog

Date published: 2017-04-18