Varadaraju
Abstract
Blood samples were collected from bilaterally located cervical sinus in the Travancore tortoise (Indotestudo forstenii) and black pond turtle (Melanochelys trijuga) endemic to tropical Western Ghats, India for analysis certain haematological indices and plasma constituents to examine inter-specific differences and seasonal variations. The values obtained such as RBC, WBC, Het, Hb, haematimetric indices such as MCV, MCH and MCHC, morphomertic measurements like cell length and its width, nuclear length and its width and total surface area and differential leucocytes like eosinophil, basophil, lymphocytes and moncytes and plasma constituents such as plasma glucose protein, cholesterol, urea and uric acid were compared between the two species. The greatest mean erythrocyte diameter of 21.2 mm in Travancore tortoise and higher plasma cholesterol (232.0 mg/dL) and urea (89.0 mg/L) in Black pond turtle were observed. It was inferred that the life style of an animal will influence the blood composition.