The morphological peculiarities of the digestive system in peacock (Pavo cristatus)

Abstract

The peacockʼs beak has the characteristic aspect as in all granivores, being relatively short, thick at the base and sharpened at the tip, consisting in a curved upper valve which covers the lower valve tip. The ceiling of the oropharyngeal cavity is narrow and covered by two palatine lateral ridges which fuse into a brief median ridge. The palatine fissure appears such as a cleft, aborally placed to the beak's commissure and slightly wider in its posterior half. The tongue is triangular-like and sharpened ended, it follows the shape of the inferior valve but being small in length, it partly fills the floor. The peacockʼ esophagus is about 25 cm long, the last third of the cervical part represents in fact the crop, globular in shape. Proventriculus appears elongated, fusiform and approximately 3,5-4 cm long. The ventriculus is 6,5 cm long, 5 cm wide and 3-3,2 cm thick. The two ceca are about 20 cm long lying on each side of ileum. The proximal portion is 8 about cm long showing a thicker wall, then follows the tonsillar portion with thinner wall, it appears as a blind sac with a rounded apex. The hepatic lobes are almost equal in size. The left lobe is divided into medial and lateral portion. The pancreas consists of three lobes: ventral, dorsal and splenic.