Some Aspects of the Orbital and Ocular Morphometry of the African Giant Rat (Cricetomys gambianus, Waterhouse)

Olude, M. A.; Olopade, J. O.; Igado, O. O.; Mustapha, O. A.; Akinloye, A. K.

doi:10.21608/jva.2011.45161

Some Aspects of the Orbital and Ocular Morphometry of the African Giant Rat (Cricetomys gambianus, Waterhouse)

Authors

¹ Department of Veterinary Anatomy, College of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria

² Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Iba- dan, Nigeria

10.21608/jva.2011.45161

Abstract

This work was designed to investigate some aspects of the ocular and orbital morphometric characteristics of the African giant rat (Cricetomys gambianus, Waterhouse). 16 African giant rats consisting of 8 males and 8 female rats were euthanized; the eyeballs were enucleated and their skulls macerated to give 18 morphometric parameters. Student t-test and Pearson’s correlation studies were used to analyze the obtained values. Correlation studies showed significance in the left orbit- al height as correlated against the right orbital index. The eyeball weight for right and left eyeballs were 0.16 g and 0.15 g.The mean eyeball circumference (antero- posterior and medio-lateral) measurements were 2.23 ± 0.01cm and 2.02 ± 0.06 cm for the left and 2.06 ± 0.04 cm and 2.13 ± 0.03 cm for the right eyeball respectively. The mean right orbital length, right orbital height, left orbital height and the intercanthi width were 2.09 ± 0.02 cm, 1.21 ± 0.03 cm, 1.23 ± 0.03 cm and 0.93± 0.03 cm respectively but were all statistically higher (p< 0.05) in males than females exhibiting sexual dimorphism.

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