Anatomy of Oropharyngeal Cavity of Fowl (Gallus domesticus)

Abstract

The study was conducted on the mouth cavity of 9 birds aged between 2-6 months. The beak was formed by dense horny tissue lying over the incisive bone and mandible. The lower beak (3.61±0.08 cm) was overlaid by the upper beak (3.34±0.04 cm). In the mid line of hard palate was a longitudinal fissure (choanal cleft), characterized by a narrow rostral portion and an enlarged caudal portion. A 0.61±0.02 cm long infundibular cleft represented the common opening of two auditory tubes. The hard palate had a median swelling and two lateral palatine ridges. Caudally directed papillae were arranged in 5±0.17 transverse rows. The floor of the oropharynx was formed by the interramal region, the tongue and the laryngeal mound (1.09±0.03 cm in length). The triangular shaped tongue was 1.94±0.06 cm in length and 1.17±0.03 cm in width.. The laryngeal mound lay caudal to the tongue, in which the< glottis (laryngeal cleft 0.56±0.02 cm) was present. The length of the upper and lower parts of the pharynx was 1.57±0.04 cm and 2.29±0.08 cm, respectively. The posterior limit of pharynx on upper part had single row of papillae, while the lower part had two rows of papillae.