Identification of osteological features of skull bone of ox (skull of ox anatomy)
Hello and welcome again. Hope you are doing well and completed the previous article – identification of osteological features of fore limb’s bone of animal (how to identify animal bones, anatomy of the body bones) and also identification of osteological features of hind limb’s bone of an animal.
Today, I will discuss the axial skeleton (skull bones, vertebra, ribs, and sternum). First, I will identify the osteological features of the skull bone of an ox (skull of ox anatomy).
Okay, let’s start to learn and identify the important osteological features from skull bone of ox –
List of skull bones of ox
Here, we will identify different osteological features from the followings bones –
Cranial and lateral
- Frontal bone (paired; cranial bone)
- Nasal bone (paired; facial bone)
- Palatine bone (paired; fascial bone)
- Parietal bone (paired; cranial bone)
- Temporal bone (paired; cranial bone)
- Malar or zygomatic bone (paired; facial bone)
- Lacrimal bone (paired; facial bone)
- Maxilla bone (paired; facial bone)
- Premaxilla bone (paired; facial bone)
Caudally
- Part of the occipital bone (single; cranial bone)
- Interparietal bone (paired; cranial bone)
Caudo-ventrally
- Part of the occipital bone
- Sphenoid bone (single, cranial bone)
- Pterygoid bone (paired; facial bone)
- Ethmoid bone (single; cranial bone)
- Turbinate bone (paired; facial bone)
- Vomar bone (single; facial bone)
“You need to know details about those bones. Here, I am going to identify the important features only”.
First, you should identify those bones from the pictures of animal skulls.
Now, I will discuss each bone separately (not in detail, just important features). Okay, let’s start –
Cranial and lateral
A frontal bone of an animal
It is located at the head’s cranio-dorsal aspect and forms an animal’s forehead. From the frontal bone, you need to identify the following structures –
- Supraorbital groove with foramen (at the frontal surface)
- Supraorbital process (elevated portion parallel to supraorbital groove)
- Orbital cavity
- Cornual process (absent in horse, dog, cat)
- Caudo-frontal depression (in goats, sheep, and deer)
The nasal bone of an animal
We need to identify the followings structures from nasal bone –
- The attachment portion of nasal bone with anterior palatine bone (ventral to nasal bone)
- Nasal process of palatine bone
“Nasal bone is located in front of the frontal bone, and the distal portion is pointed.”
The palatine bone of an ox
You know, palatine bone has two parts – horizontal palatine and perpendicular palatine. Here, we will identify the following structures from the palatine bone of animals –
- Horizontal palatine bone (ventrally; plate-like)
- Anterior palatine foramen
- Palatine process of maxilla bone
- Maxillary process of palatine bone
- Perpendicular palatine bone (quadrilateral plate)
- The parietal bone of an animal
Located at the lateral aspect of the posterior (above also) portion of the animal skull. We will identify the following structures from parietal bone –
Temporal fossa (also formed by squamous part of temporal bone)
- Parietal crest
- A temporal bone of an animal
Hope you know temporal bone has two parts – the squamous and petrous parts. We should identify those two parts separately. We will also identify the followings structures from the temporal bone of an animal –
- Zygomatic process of the temporal bone
- External auditory meatus
- Internal auditory meatus
- Bulla tympaniformis
- Stylomastoid foramen
Malar or zygomatic bone of an animal
It is located at the lateral aspect of the skull. We will identify the followings structures from the malar or zygomatic bone of an animal –
- Zygomatic process of the temporal bone
- Frontal process of the zygomatic bone
“Lacrimal bone is located at an anterolateral portion of the skull. You need to identify the lacrimal bulla and lacrimal fossa.”
Maxilla bone of an animal
Hope you know the maxilla is the largest facial bone of ruminants. It has some clinical importance. You should identify the following important osteological features from the maxilla bone of animals –
- Facial tuberosity (in cattle, sheep, goats) or facial crest (in the horse)
- Infraorbital foramen
- Premaxilla bone of an animal
The following structures should be identified from the premaxilla bone of animal –
- Nasal process of palatine bone
- Palatine process of nasal bone
Caudally
Occipital bone of animal
This bone has three parts: lateral mass, basioccipital, and supraoccipital. We need to identify those parts with some important osteological features –
In the lateral part of the occipital bone
Condyle (oval elongated)
- Foramen magnum
- Paramastoid process (external to the corresponding condyle)
- Condyloid fossa (between the condyle and paramastoid process)
- Hypoglossal foramen (within the condyloid fossa)
- Condyloid foramen (behind hypoglossal foramen)
Caudo-ventrally
The sphenoid bone of an animal (ox)
We need to identify the presphenoid part and post-sphenoid part of the sphenoid bone of animals. We should also identify the following structures from this sphenoid bone –
- Pituitary fossa in the sphenoid bone
- Foramen ovale (middle of the wing of post-sphenoid bone)
- Foramen orbitorotundum (between the wing of presphenoid and post-sphenoid parts)
- Optic foramen (at the anterior part of presphenoid part of sphenoid bone)
- Foramen lacerum (in case of horse)
“We need to identify the cribriform plate from the ethmoid bone of animal.”
Turbinate bone or nasal conchae (ox)
We need to identify the following structures from turbinate bone or nasal conchae –
- Dorsal nasal conchae
- Ventral nasal conchae and
- Middle nasal conchae
List of sinus that you should identify from the skull of the animal –
- Frontal sinus (extensive; in frontal bone)
- Maxillary sinus (in maxilla, malar bones)
- Sphenoid sinus
- Ethmoid sinus
- Palatine sinus
“You need to enlist the sinus of skull in different species. Please, also enlist the foramens of skull in different species with their contents.”
How will you differentiate the skull of an ox from the skull of a horse and dog?
Several features differentiate the skull of ox from those of other species like horses, dogs, and cats. In the case of a dog, you will find an elongated oval skull, whereas an ox has an elongated narrow skull.
A dog’s zygomatic process is highly curved (an important feature); the orbital rim is incomplete, and a complete orbital rim is present in an ox skull. In the case of the horse, you will find a long four-sided skull, absent of cornual process.
Osteological feature of the mandible of animal (anatomy of the mandible of animal)
We will identify the followings parts of the mandible of animal –
- Body of mandible (placed horizontally) and
- Ramus of mandible (verticle portion of mandible) of animal
- Now, we need to identify the following important structures from the body of the mandible of an animal –
- Alveolar socket for incisive teeth, premolar teeth, molar teeth
- Mental foramen (at the anterior-lateral aspect of the body of the mandible)
Again, we need to identify the following important structure from the ramus of the mandible of animal –
- Coronoid process (projection; located at upper portion)
- Condylar process (projection; lower portion)
- Mandibular notch
- Mandibular foramen and mandibular canal
- Groove for lingual nerve
- Angle of mandible
- Masseteric fossa (in case of dog mandible; depression at mandible; placed laterally)
“You will find masseteric fossa at lateral part of mandible and also find an extra projection at the ventral portion of ramus of mandible. Thus, you will able to differentiate the mandible of dog from other species. You will learn details on comparative anatomy section.”
Conclusion
I hope you have an idea of the different osteological features of the skull bone of an ox (skull of ox anatomy). Now, you should learn each bone’s details from books or class lectures.
I hope you will be able to identify the skull anatomy of the head (get help from pictures of animal skulls). If you want to learn the basic anatomy from the DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF ANIMAL BODY, please visit this link and start learning your desired organ system.
“If possible, I will update or enrich information on this topic in future.”
If there is any mistake in the above information or if you have any suggestions for me, please, let me know in the comment box. Thank you so much.