COMPARISON OF THE HISTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF TONGUE OF A CARNIVORE, CAT AND SOME OTHER VERTEBRATES IN RELATION TO THEIR FEEDING HABITS.

COMPARISON OF THE HISTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF TONGUE OF A CARNIVORE, CAT AND SOME OTHER VERTEBRATES IN RELATION TO THEIR FEEDING HABITS.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The detailed structural studies on different organ system of domestic animals are giving important in contemporary biological science. These have implication on conservation and propagation and also form data base of scientific information.The present study describe the comparative histological study and of a carnivorous cat.

The cat is taxonomically in the kingdom animal, phylum chordate, class mammalian, order carnivore, family viverridae.

The cat is a smaller animal whose length is 3ft and has a tail size of 1ft. it weighs from 6-8ib.

The general colourare brownish or olive grey to light grey. They are longitudinal dark stripes and rows of spots along the body. Its main diet is rats, lizards, small birds, insects, fruits and berries.

The comparative histology of the study of the tongue would show the micro-anatomical and structural variation that appeared to represent adaptations to their various feeding pattern.The cat tongue has sharp spines,or papillae, useful for retaining and ripping flesh from a carcass. These papillae are small backward facing hooks that contains keratin whichalso assist in there groom. The cat papillae contain tiny holes or pores that lead to tastes bud consist of muscles. The bulk of the tongue consists of muscles bundles mixed with connective (strong/ tough) and adipose (fat) tissues. It has many blood vessels and bleed profusely when lacerated. The tongue is surrounded by the openings of the duct of the salivary glands, which pores there secretion (saliva) into the oral cavity.

The tongue (lingua) occupies the ventral aspect of the oral cavity and oropharynx. It is involved with grooming, lapping, prehension and manipulating food in the oral cavity. It is also involved in the deglutition reflex and vocalisation. The tongue is capable of vigorous and precise movements due to the apex being free of attachments to the oral cavity.
The shape and structure of the tongue differ significantly among animal species, reflecting the various functions of each respective tongue (Iwasaki, 2002; Santos et al., 2011). In the anatomy of the tongue, three parts may be distinguished: the apex, the body and the root (Jackowiak and Godynicki, 2005; Dehkordiet al., 2010). On the surface of tongue, there are various kinds of lingual papillaeseach having different morphological structure and shape. Distribution of these lingual papillae has been considered to be related to species eating habits and vocalization (Fawcett, 1986; Park et al., 2009). All the papillae are covered by stratified squamous epithelium that differs by the thickness and keratinization only (Iwasaki and Miyata, 1985; Wassif, 2001).

Notably, the tongue of carnivorous animals have filiform, fungiform and Valliate but lacks foliate papillae(Chamorro, De Paz, Sandoval et al., 1986);Kobayashi, Kamakura and Takahashi, 1995;Qayyum and Beg, 1975).

COMPARISON OF THE HISTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF TONGUE OF A CARNIVORE, CAT AND SOME OTHER VERTEBRATES IN RELATION TO THEIR FEEDING HABITS