Macroanatomic Investigation of External Carotid Artery and Its TerminalBranches of Zavot-Bred Cattle

The aim of this study was to investigate the macro-anatomy of terminal branches and external carotid artery supplying the arterial vascularisation of Zavot-bred cattle head. For this purpose, ten heads supplied from the slaughterhouse of Kars Municipality were used. Latex was injected into the common carotid artery, for the examination of these materials. It was found that the external carotid artery gave off the linguofacial trunk, the caudal auricular, superficial temporal and maxillary arteries. It was found that the two ramus glandularis were originated from the facial artery. It was observed that the caudal auricular artery extended to the caudal of ear and it was separatedinto two branches named as the ramus auricularis lateralis and ramus auricularis intermedius lateralis. It was also observed that the ramus auricularis intermedius medialis was originated from the ramus intermedius lateralis. Furthermore, it was observed that theinferior alveolar artery gave off from the maxillary artery and had a folded structure inside the canalis mandibularis. After the inferior alveolar artery passed through the foramen mentale, it was terminated as the mental artery. The external ophthalmic artery was leaved from the maxillaryartery as a single root. As a result, while the ramification of the external carotid artery on the head region of the Zavot-bred cattle was generally similar to that of the other ruminants, some differences were also found.