Macro-Anatomical and Morphometric Investigation of the Tongue and Lingual Papillae in the Guinea fowl (Numida meleagridis)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the macroanatomy and morphometric of the tongue of the guinea fowl. Six chicks (6-7 weeks), six layer hens (9-13 weeks) and six studs guinea fowl were used to study and determine the anatomical features of the tongue of the guinea fowl. Papillae of the tongue were examined photos of the general anatomic structures were taken. Morphometry was calculated by statistical analysis. The tongue was triangular shaped, and consisted of apex, corpus, and radix sections. The papillae linguales caudales were on both sides of the corpus and radix linguae. Conical papillae were found to be sequentially V shaped at the radix. Thus, in this study, the anatomy and morphometric of the tongue of the guinea fowl tongue were examined in details and the similarities and differences between the tongue of the guinea fowl and the tongue of other poultry species were investigated.