The use of silicone casts in collection of morphological data from free-ranging wildlife — the case of tracheobronchial anatomy of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)

We tested the usefulness of silicone casts for gathering morphological data from freeranging wildlife by documenting the tracheobronchial anatomy of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). The silicone compound accurately reproduced the main aspects of the tracheobronchial branching but the demonstration of smaller airways was less accurate. Evaluation of air-inflated specimens and tracheobronchial casts showed that the right lung consisted of cranial, middle, caudal and accessory lobes, whereas the left lung was divided into cranial and caudal lobes. The left cranial lobe was further divided into cranial and caudal parts. The right cranial lobar bronchus was almost tracheal in location. The trachea had an average of 37 cartilages that showed a pattern of random anastomoses between adjacent cartilages. The silicone compound tested in this study holds promise for its use also under field conditions to gather quantitative morphological data.