DETERMINATION OF THE SEX OF RABBITS BY CRANIOMETRIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SKULLS
Solving the issue of establishing the sex of animals by the skull is a practically unexplored topic, but it is of great practical importance in the field of veterinary medicine. The need to determine sex arises during forensic veterinary examination, archaeological and special morphological studies, as well as when studying age and breed variability of animals using craniological material, and conducting veterinary and sanitary examination of meat. In male rabbits, the meat is tougher and may have a specific smell, unlike females, in which it is very tender and juicy. In order to save money, some entrepreneurs, farmers or other organizations replace animals of one sex with another. At the same time, the quality of the product is greatly degraded. To understand this issue, resort to the examination of the bones. Unfortunately, at the moment there is not a single valid method for determining the sex of an animal from the skull, but thanks to this study, we can establish the gender of those animals that were used in the production of rabbit meat. The purpose of our further research will be the creation of a craniological method for determining sex in various animal species, which, in turn, can have a significant impact on the conduct of a forensic veterinary examination. It is worth noting that similar techniques are used daily in medical practice, which facilitates the work of forensic experts.