morphological and morphometrical features of the occipital area of male khouzestan river buffalo

background: the foramen magnum (fm) is an important landmark of the skull base and a transition zone between spine and skull as well as its close relationship to the brain and the spinal cord. so the fm has gained considerable interest due to its comparative anatomy, ontogeny, clinical, and animal breeding viewpoints. objectives: the aim of this study was to determine morphology and morphometry of the occipital area of 20 mature and immature male khouzestan river buffaloes. methods: 7 parameters of the occipital area and the shape of the fm in the skull of 20 mature and immature male khouzestan river buffaloes were analyzed. results: the fm had 4 shapes including round, egg, oval, and tetragonal. in the mature and immature groups, the highest frequency of the fm shape belonged to oval. in the mature and immature groups, the tetragonal fm shape and the oval fm shape had the lowest frequency, respectively. the mean of the width, the length of the fm and the index of the fm in mature group was 38.60± 2.70, 35.34± 2.33, and 92.26±26 mm, respectively and 40.67± 1.51, 36.35± 2.33, and 90.23±3.65 mm in immature group, respectively. amongst of the all parameters, the width and the length of the jugular process only differed significantly between mature and immature groups. conclusions: the variations of the fm shape in river buffalo were more than those of reported animals. the  mean of  the length and  the width of  the fm,  the jugular processes width,  the length of the jugular process, the length  and width  of the  occipital condyles of male river buffaloes were greater than those of reported animals. the index of the fm in river buffalo was less than 100, which corresponded with the findings in rabbit, german shepherd and pekingese dogs.