Some Morphological Studies on the Wing and foot of the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)

Abstract

The cassowaries are ratites (flight-less birds without a keel on their sternum). The wings and feet of a doubled-wattled or Southern casso-wary used in this study were radio-graphed. Pieces of the quills and claws were processed for histo-logical examination, and the wings and feet were cleaned to study the bones. The wings are small with only four long, slightly curved quills or reme-ges. Quills occurred in follicles, similar to the hair follicles of mammals. The shaft of a quill was for med by a central medulla consisting of a solid polygonal, non-nucleated cell mass surrounded by dense compact ke-ratinized cells compressed to form a cortex. The wing skeleton was formed by the humerus, a thick radius paired with a thinner curved ulna, ulnar and radial carpals, carpometacapal, and three digits. The second digit bore a long curved claw. The skeleton of the foot was formed by the distal extremity of the tarso-metatarsal, which had three articular surfaces (trochlea) representing the three digits (II, III, IV). The first digit was missing. The second digit consisted of 3 phalanges, the distal phalanx of which was a long tapering cone sheathed completely by a keratinous long straight claw (dagger-shaped). The third digit was the largest, and consisted of 4 phalanges. The fourth digit was longer than the second one and shorter than the third one, and had five phalanges. The gross anatomy described was supported by 8 images (x-rays, his-tology, and skeleton of the wings Morphology of the Wing and foot of the Southern cassowary Saber and Hassanin and feet) and discussed in comparison with other bird species.