Abstract
Up to the present time, knowledge and information on arteriosclerosis in wild anddomestic animals have been quite limited in veterinary circles in Japan. Recently, theauthors had an opportunity to examine vascular lesions in the emu, Dromiceius novaehol-landiae, which died of senility in Ten-noji Zoological Garden of Osaka City. Angio-pathological studies were made on the heart and the aorta and its main branches. Thefollowing results were obtained.l) Arteriosclerotic Iesions were found in the left and right coronary arteries, thoracicand abdominal aortae, and their branches, such as the brachiocephalic, celiac, cranialmesenteric, external iliac, lumbar, and middle sacral arteries. Of these blood vessels, theabdominal aorta and the coronary arteries were affected most severely, showing lesions ofatherosclerotic type.2) The results of this observation were compared with those reported by tworesearch groups, VASTESAEGER et al. (1959) and LINDSAY et al. (1965), which had examinedthe emu. It became obvious that the vascular damage of the present case was severerthan those of the cases of the two groups. The chautge found in the left coronary arterywas equivalent to the most intensive Iesion of atherosclerotic type in the human being.3) It was known that this bird had been fed a specially prepared ration containinghens egg and rich fat for 8 consecutively months before death. This ration was con-sidered to have maintained good nutritional conditions of this bird in spite of its oldage. It may have lived long enough to develop such severe lesion in the coronary arteries, as well as in the abdominal aorta.
