A comparative study of the intestinal anatomy of deer

The intestinal anatomy of fallow deer (Dama dama), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), and elk (Alces alces) was studied. Special attention was given to the spiral loop of the ascending colon and the proportional length of the small and large intestines. The spiral loop of the ascending colon is wound 3-3 1/2 turns in the fallow deer, 2-3 turns in the white-tailed deer, 5 1/2-7 turns in the reindeer and 3-4 turns in the elk. The distal half of the last centrifugal turn of the spiral loop, regularly has one additional loop in the ventro-caudal quadrant of the mesenterial disc in the white-tailed deer, and one, or sometimes two such loops in the reindeer. In the elk this part of the gut usually constitutes a greater part of the spiral loop than the coil proper, and runs in several irregular loops and small coils between the coil proper and the jejunal attachment. Irregular patterns of the coil proper are common, and occur in all four species. The mean relative length of the large intestine was about 52% of the small intestine in the reindeer and 55-57% in the other species, which indicates, that significant differences in gut proportions do not exist in the deer species studied, perhaps with an exception for the reindeer.