Anatomical Study of the Thoracic Limb Muscles in the European Badger (Meles meles): A Case Report

The European badger (Meles meles) belongs to the Animalia kingdom, Chordata phylum, Mammalia class, Carnivora order, Caniformia suborder, Musteloidea superfamily, and Mustelidae family. This study compared the muscles of the badger’s thoracic limb with those of other carnivores, addressing the lack of information about these muscles, and highlighted their clinical significance in movement and digging, which is essential for the badger’s survival and ecological niche. The Environmental Organization of Semnan Province, Iran, found the carcass of this badger, which died of natural causes in the surrounding areas of Semnan, and transferred it to the anatomy hall for anatomical studies. We dissected the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the thoracic limb after performing the sample preparation steps. A lot of interesting things were found in the study, like the two layers of the latissimus dorsi muscle, the two parts of the tensor fasciae antebrachii muscle, the thick accessory head of the triceps brachii muscle, and the two parts of the flexor carpi radialis muscle. Examined muscles exhibited similarities with other carnivorous muscles, yet they also showed significant differences in terms of the number of muscle parts and their growth. The muscles of the animals compared in this study were most like those of the dog and most unlike those of the fox. Among the other cases investigated in this study was the clavicle, which is hyaline cartilage in the European badger and is most similar to that of the dogs and neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis).

کلیدواژه ها:

The European badger ، Myology ، thoracic limb ، Morphology