Oral architecture of the species Herpailurus yagouaroundi

Herpailurus yagouaroundi, popularly known as the jaguarundi cat, is a small cat with a wide territorial distribution. Understanding its morphological characteristics is of great importance for the evolution of scientific knowledge of the species and its eating habits. With that in mind, the objective was to describe the morphology of its oral cavity to contribute to future studies on its diet in captivity. Three specimens of H. yagouaroundi were used, and underwent the process of fixation in 10% formaldehyde, photodocumentation, preparation of histological slides for evaluation of lips, cheeks, hard palate, soft palate and tongue, for subsequent photomicrography. Macroscopically, the animal presented tactile hairs in the region of the cheek and close to the lips, the latter with a blackish color and smooth appearance, hard palate with wrinkles and palatine grooves full of palatine papillae, and soft palate with folds of the mucosa. The tongue had an elongated shape with different thicknesses in each region, at the apex of the tongue, filiform papillae were observed, including fungiform ones. At the base of the organ, vallate papillae, conical papillae, more delicate than the filiform ones, foliate papillae and marginal papillae were observed on the side of the tongue. Analyzing the literature, it was possible to prove that the jaguarundi cat has characteristics very similar to those of large cats. Evaluating the presence of a greater variety of lingual papillae, it is suggested that the eating habits of jaguarundi cats are more restricted and that they are more selective in their food.