Anatomy plays a great role in understanding the external and internal structures of an animal’s body or organs. Thus, the term veterinary anatomy is essential for the vet professional, vet students, and tutors.

In this article, I will explain veterinary anatomy with examples and describe its major divisions.

Quick answer: Veterinary anatomy is concerned with the forms and structures of the organs and tissues of the principal domestic animals and birds.

Let’s know the details of the veterinary anatomy and explain every important term from the definition with examples.

Table of Contents

What is veterinary anatomy?

Veterinary anatomy is the branch of anatomy (deals with the biological structures) which deals with the forms and structures of various organs and tissues of the principal domesticated animals and birds (Figure 1).

Here, in the definition few key terms/words are very important to understand it –

Branch of anatomy (thus, first, you need to know what anatomy is)
Forms and structures, and
Domesticated animals

Anatomy: here, the term “anatomy” has come to refer to the science that deals with the forms and structures of all organisms.

Though the term “ana” means apart, and “tomy” means to cut. Thus, literally, the word anatomy means to cut apart. This definition was used by the early anatomists when speaking of the complete dissection of the animals.

Forms and structures: these are two important terms that you might understand perfectly to define the anatomy of any organs in the animal body.

Here, the term ‘forms’ means all physical properties of the specific organs of the animal body (examples: length, weight, wide, color, shape, size, and others of any organs).

Again, the term ‘structure’ consists of composition and parts. The term ‘composition’ means the things that make up the organs of animals (for example, bone, muscle, cartilage, ligament, and others). However, the term ‘parts’ means any extension, elevation, or any specific areas of the particular organs (examples: head, neck, lobe, cortex, medulla, and others).

Domesticated animals: they include these species that have been bred selectively for many generations. These domesticated animals usually live alongside humans and genetically differ from their wild ancestors.

I hope you understand these key terms from the definition of ‘veterinary anatomy’ or ‘anatomy.’ Now, let’s move to an example so you can understand the anatomy of each organ in the animal body.

Example of veterinary anatomy (form and structure)

Here, Figure 2 represents the right and left kidneys of the ox. Both these kidneys are lobulated, oval, or elongated, or bean-shaped organs.

What is the meaning of veterinary anatomy

Let’s identify the forms and structures of both the right and left kidneys of the ox –

Forms of the kidneys

For the left kidney:

It is lobulated and elongated organs that consist of three surfaces (dorsal, ventral, ruminal), three borders (medial, lateral, ventral), and two extremities (cranial and caudal). Most of the features are identified in the provided picture of the left kidney.

Again, the dorsal surface of the left kidney presents a hilus on its cranio-lateral aspect. This organ has a reddish brown color, specific length (14 centimeters), width (8 centimeters), and weight (700 grams). All these features are the physical properties of the left kidney of the ox. And these properties (shape, size, length, weight, and width) are the forms for the left kidney of the ox.

For the right kidney:

The right kidney of the ox is also lobulated but bean-shaped. Thus, this right kidney has its specific shape compared to the left kidney. Again, it possesses 2 surfaces (dorsal and ventral), and two borders (lateral and medial). The ventral surface presents the hilus on its cranio-medial aspect.

Finally, this kidney also has a reddish-brown color, specific length (16 centimeters), width (9 centimeters), and weight (650 grams). All these mentioned features are also the physical properties of the right kidney of the ox. Thus, these physical properties (shape, size, length, and width) are the form of the right kidney of the ox.

Thus, the physical properties of any organs include their size, shape, length, height, width, color, and appearance.

Structure of the kidneys:

Composition of both the right and left kidneys

Both these kidney contains a capsule (outer fibrous covering), and a kidney cavity. Here, the kidney cavity consists of the renal sinus, which fills with fat, and the calyx system (major and minor calyces). Again, the hilus of the kidney contains the ureter, and vessels (artery and veins). All these tissues make the kidney complete and are term as composition.

Parts of both the right and left kidneys:

Figure 3 shows the longitudinal section of the ox kidney. It shows the two distinct and defined areas – cortex (outer pale color) and medulla (inner darker area). The cortex and medulla are the parts of the kidney.

Parts and composition example from an animal kidney

Thus, the composition of the kidneys includes kidney tissue, capsule, fat, renal artery, renal vein, lymphatics, and others. Again, the parts of the kidneys are the cortex and the medulla.

Now, let’s go with another example of the anatomy of organs from the animal body.

Forms of the animal liver

The liver of an ox is the largest gland and reddish brown in color. It weighs 3 to 5 kg in an older ox. It also presents a specific length, width, and thickness. All these are the physical properties (color, weight, length, width, thickness) of the liver and term as the form.

Structure of the animal liver

Compositions: the animal liver consists of specific hepatic tissue, hepatic arteries, veins, lymphatics, ducts, and ligaments. All these are the compositions of the animal liver.

Parts: the ox liver presents 4 lobes – right, left, caudate, and quadrate. Thus, these 4 lobes are termed as the parts of the ox liver (Figure 4).

Form and structure example from the animal liver

Anatomy of a long bone

Figure 5 shows the structure/ anatomy of a long bone. Let’s see the form and structures of the long bone –

Form: this is cylindrical (having length and width), elongated, and smooth (physical properties).
Composition: made with compact and spongy substance, and also periosteum.
Parts: it possesses three parts – epiphysis, metaphysis, and diaphysis.

Thus, when you describe the anatomy of any organs from the animal body, you might cover the forms and structures (composition and parts) of those particular organs.

What is the study of animal anatomy with bone

Major division of veterinary anatomy

The science of veterinary anatomy has become very extensive and is divided into many special branches (according to Butterworth’s medical dictionary). But here, I will provide three major divisions of veterinary anatomy with examples.

Three major divisions of veterinary anatomy are –

Veterinary gross anatomy / macroscopic anatomy,
Veterinary histology / microscopic anatomy, and
Developmental anatomy / embryology

Now, let’s know how these divisions of veterinary anatomy differ from each other.

Veterinary gross anatomy or macroscopic anatomy

In veterinary gross anatomy, the forms and relations (relative position) of the structures of the animal body are studied with the unaided eye after dissection. You may study this veterinary gross anatomy in different ways. Specifically, the systemic and comparative methods are most effective in learning macroscopic anatomy in veterinary science.

Veterinary histology or microscopic anatomy

This is another large branch of veterinary anatomy where the study of tissues and cells can be seen only with the aid of a microscope. Thus, in this anatomy, you may learn the finer details of any structure of various tissues and different organs of animals.

In most recent development in the study of veterinary histology is ultra-structural cytology or histology. It deals with the proteins of cells and tissues, which can be visualized with the help of an electron microscope.

Developmental anatomy or embryology

Embryology is the study of developmental anatomy, which covers the period from conception (fertilization of the egg) to birth. That means this division of anatomy deals with the process of differentiation, growth, and development of an organ or structure.

Conclusion

So, the term ‘veterinary anatomy’ deals with the form and relative position of the structures of any organs from domestic animals and birds. There are many special divisions of veterinary anatomy where the gross, microscopic, and development anatomy are essential for a beginner veterinary student.

References

Getty, R. : Sisson and Grossman’s The Anatomy of the Domestic Animals, 5th Edn. W.B. Saunders & Co. Philadelphia (USA)
Ghosh, R. K. : Essentials of Veterinary Histology and Embryology, 2nd Edn.Current Books International, Kolkata.
Ghosh, R. K. : Primary veterinary anatomy, 2nd Edn.Current Books International, Kolkata.
ABD Nabeel et al., ’44 identification the gross structures of the ox kidney by using corrosion cast technique. Basrah Journal of veterinary research, 2016.
Thakur PN et al., ‘Gross morphological observation of liver in buffalo’. Buffalo bulletin (January – March, 2021), Volume 40, No 1.
Butterworth’s medical dictionary
MedlinePlus (Long bone structure)

Written by

Sonnet Poddar

I am Sonnet Poddar (Veterinarian; Faculty member of Veterinary Anatomy), founder of VeterinaryAnatomyGuide.com. Over the last 9 years, my efforts have focused on veterinary anatomy teaching to undergraduate and Master’s students. Currently, I am running more than 7 educational websites and offer my students unique learning resources.