Abstract

We measured macroscopic anatomical parameters of the digestive tract of 12 female Himalayan tahrs. According to morphological criteria used sensu Hofmann for the classification of ruminants into feeding types - in particular the reticuloruminal capacity measured as wet content weights, the ruminal pillar thickness, the reticular honeycomb structure, the size of the omasum and the size of the parotid glands - tahrs can be classified as predominantly grazing ruminants. As reported in other ruminant species, the length of the large intestine was a more constant parameter over a range of body weights than that of the small intestine. The weight of the parotid glands scaled to metabolic body weight.