Gross morphometrical studies on the Skull, Atlas and Axis of Female Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus): A Case Study

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.