Existence and features of the myodural bridge in gentoo penguins:a morphological study

Recent studies have evidenced that the anatomical structure now known as the myodural bridge(MDB)connects the suboccipital musculature to the cervical spinal dura mater(SDM).In humans,the MDB passes through both the posterior atlanto-occipital and the posterior atlanto-axial interspaces.The existence of the MDB in various mammals,including flying birds(Rock pigeons and Gallus domesticus)has been previously validated.Gentoo penguins are the world's fastest diving birds.The present study was therefore carried out to investigate the existence and characteristics of the MDB in Gentoo penguin,a non-flying,marine bird that can dive.For this study,six Gentoo penguin specimens were dissected to observe the existence and composition of their MDB.