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SUMMARY:The present study has been done on the mandible of blackbuck. The mandible was a paired bone. It was the largest bone of the skull, and it was made up of two halves, which were united with immovable articulation forming mandibular symphysis. It presented for description three surfaces and three borders. The lingual sur-face was smooth and concave. Its symphyseal surface was rough and irregular. The most prominent part of the curve of the ramus formed the angle of the jaw; the part of the ramus between the body and the angle was called horizontal part and carries the lower cheek teeth. The part of the ramus above the angle was termed the vertical part. The vertical part of ramus was non-tooth bearing, expanded vertical part of mandible. Each ramus presented for description two surfaces, two borders and two extremities. The lateral surface was widest at the angle and tapers towards the extremities.

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The present investigation was carried out on the dead Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) presented to the Centre for Wildlife Health, OUAT, Bhubaneswar whose skeleton remains were attempted for fire burn by the land poachers. After ascertaining the sex, tentative age and height of the animal basing on the morphology of skull, number of lamellae on the table surface of molar tooth and shoulder height respectively, the morphological and biometrical studies were conducted on the skull, atlas and axis vertebra to develop a baseline data for the particular species, sex and age group of the Asiatic elephant. The present biometric study was conducted by using the instruments used for routine biometrical studies of the bones such as graduated tape, scale and digital Vernier's caliper. It was found that the skull contained air cavities that gave the inside of the skull a honeycomb-like appearance and back of the skull was flattened and spread out. The atlas had dorsal and ventral arches, united by the lateral masses of cartilage. The length and width of the body of atlas were comparatively smaller than that of axis. The length of cranial articular facet of left side of atlas was greater than that of the right side, where as a reverse relation was noted for their widths. The foramina transversarium were found to be circular in shape in atlas. Further, the axis was comprised of a body carrying the dens and the neural arch, united by a cartilage. Unlike atlas, the foramen transversarium of left side was larger than that of the right one in axis. It aimed to develop a baseline data for the particular species, sex and age group of the Asiatic elephant, which will help explore new avenues in the forensic wild life science in dealing with the vetero-legal cases particularly for the identification purposes. Further, the gross and biometric studies may be conducted on the whole axial skeleton of the female Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus) along with their biomechanical role.

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The present study was conducted on the coronary artery of 18 goats divided into three age groups viz., kid (up to 1 year), young (1-2 years) and adult (2 years and above) comprising of six animals in each group for recording the histchemical peculiarities. The histochemical study revealed that the PAS activity was limited to the tunica externa and intima of the coronary artery. Moderate PAS activity was recorded in the left coronary artery at the termination in all the age groups of goats, while at the origin of the right coronary artery very weak PAS activity was found. The deposition of lipids was found in all the tunics of the coronary artery. The amount of deposition of lipids in the tunica intima of left coronary artery was more than that deposited in the right one in all the age groups of goat and the deposition increased with the advancement of the age of the animals. The acid phosphatase activity was exhibited only in the endothelium and tunica externa of the coronary artery, whereas the alkaline phosphatase activity was noted in the endothelium, externa and perivascular connective tissues of the vessels. In adults, intense acid phosphatase activity was recorded in the tunica externa of left coronary artery with the endothelium showing very weak activity, while moderate activity was noted in the tunica externa of right coronary artery without any activity in the endothelium of this vessel in the adult animals. The present study shall be of value to clinicians for assessment of vascular configuration in health and diseases of coronary artery as well to study the haemodynamics in terms of lining endothelium and its modification for clotting mechanism.

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