Osteal specimens are cleaning with aid of dermestid beetles, so there is no chance of damaging the specimens from maceration or over-boiling. Dermestid method is easy to make articulated skeletons in small to medium size animals. I introduced a brief method of my osteal specimen making. And I made a catalogue of my mammal bone collections for other scientists.

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An investigation of the parasitic helminths in 61 feral and 7 captive individuals of raccoons, Procyon lotor, colected in Hokkaido, Japan, was done, and Toxocara tanuki(Ascarididae:Nematoda)[Number of raccoons positively infected:1], Metagonimus takahashii(Heterophyidae:Trematoda)[2]and Euparyphium sp.(Echinostomatidae:Trematoda)[7], were obtained from the feral raccoons. This is the first record of these helminth species from this host species.

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A 23-day-old Bengal tiger was referred to the Osaka Prefecture University Veterinary Teaching Hospital with dysgenesis and dyspnea. Auscultation revealed systolic murmurs. Radiography revealed cardiomegaly. Two-dimensional echocardiography revealed a defect at the membranous part of the septum. Shunt flow from left ventricle to right ventricle was demonstrated by color flow echocardiography. Based on these findings, this tiger was diagnosed as ventricular septal defect. This is the first case report of ventricular septal defect diagnosed by color flow echocardiography in the wildlife animals.

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Japanese monkeys of the wild origin in Shiga Prefecture were housed under the artificial environment where a room temperature, humidity, photoperiod were fixed through the year. Their body weight and voluntary intake energy(kcal)of every month were measured, and those seasonal changes were observed. Adult six females and four males maintained under this environment for more than two years were used for the experiment. Body weight and intake energy changed in all the individuals seasonally. But, the time of that maximum value and the minimum value was not unified by individuals. The ratio of maximum and minimum body weight in every individual was 1.12〜1.37. Average intake energy in the body weight in crease term was higher than that in decrease term(p<0.01).

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We studied in bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, how blood values changed before and after feeding with 3 hematological and 18 serum chemistry tests. Clinical data:A total of 286 blood samples were clinically examined from two male and four female adult dolphins from 1990-1997;187 samples were taken between 09:00-10:00 before feeding, and 99 samples were taken between 13:00-14:00 after they had been fed 5.0-10.0 kg of mackerel. Experimental data:Blood samples from two female dolphins were taken at 09:00 before feeding and at 13:00 after they had been fed on 8.0 kg mackerel on five separate times. On five other times, blood samples from the same dolphins were also taken at 09:00 and 13:00 before they had been fed any fish. In both data, it is concluded that TG and BUN will increase, and Cl decrease due to dietary factors. Experimental data, however, suggests that FFA and T-Bil will increase when an animal has not eaten.

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The distribution and relative frequency of gut endocrine cells were studied in nectarivorous bats, Anoura caudifer and frugi-nectarivorous bats, Carollia perspicillata by immunohistochemistry. Five kinds of endocrine cells immunoreactive for either serotonin, somatostatin, gastrin, enteroglucagon or bovine pancreatic polypeptide(BPP), were observed in the stomach. Serotonin-immunoreactive(IR) cells were abundant in the cardiac, fundic and pyloric glands, whereas gastrin-IR cells were very numerous and somatostatin-IR cells were abundant in the pyloric glands. A few enteroglucagon- and BPP-IR cells were found only in the fundic and cardiac glands, respectively. In addition to the five immunoreactive cell types observed in the stomach, endocrine cells immunoreactive for motilin, gastric inhibitory polypeptide(GIP) and neurotensin were detected in the intestine. Serotonin-IR cells were most abundant along the length of the intestine. Serotonin-, somatostatin-, gastrin- and BPP-IR cells also were found in Brunner's glands.

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The family Sciuridae are nearly cosmopolitan in distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. At present squirrels are classified into about 250 species, and more than 40 per cent of all squirrel species are found in Asia. Based on the morphological and ecological characteristics, they are classified into three types:tree squirrels, flying squirrels, and ground-dwelling squirrels. All the three types are distributed in Asia and their taxonomy and phylogeny remain poorly understood. A study of karyotypic evolution of Asian squirrels is of particular interest. However, only small numbers of Asian squirrel species(15% of total Asian species)are karyotypically studied. Furthermore, studies with chromosomal banding techniques appear to have only been performed on the limited species. Although karyotypic data for Asian squirrels are still somewhat limited, the purpose of this paper is to summarize the present status of chromosome studies in Asian squirrels for the better understanding of evolutionary processes in karyotypes. In summary, (1)the diploid number of Asian flying squirrels and tree squirrels was 38-54 with FN = 68-72, and their karyotypes consisted of mostly biarmed chromosomes. This suggests that the karyotype evolution of Asian squirrels could be caused by more complicated chromosome rearrangements including inversion and translocation rather than centric fusion and centric fission. (2)Comparative banded karyotypes exhibited that the homology of banding patterns have been conserved between genera of tree squirrels more than between genera of flying squirrels. (3)Conspicuous secondary constriction(SC) or satellite with long stalk was found exclusively in flying squirrels and their nucleolus organizer regions(NORs) were clearly observed on SC and satellite stalk. Tree squirrels had no chromosome with SC. However, in karyotype of Callosciurus, the satellite with long stalk which corresponded to NORs was recognized, suggesting that Callosciurus is most closely related to flying squirrels of Asian tree squirrels described here.

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