Lei Zhu; XiaoDong Shi; JunJie Wang & JianGang Chen

Summary

The present study was carried out on a number of 16 skulls of adult male domestic donkeys. Craniometric measurements for 40 different parts of the skulls were made. All investigated features were expressed as Mean±SD. Cephalic indices and ratios were calculated by using the investigated features. The craniometric measurements and cephalic indices had been compared with those of local horses and ponies. A skull length of 443.07±53.57 mm and a maximum zygomatic width of 169.09±17.64 mm were obtained. The size of donkey skull was between those of local horses and ponies. A skull index of 38.23±0.85, a cranial index of 45.01±2.83 and a facial index of 67.80±3.79 were obtained. Cranial index and skull index were found to be close in value to that of local horses and ponies. The results of this study revealed that donkey had a longer nose than local horse and pony, and the difference of skull length in the three species accounted for the facial length difference.

KEY WORDS: Skull; Donkey; Craniometry.

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