Comparison of ear tissue regeneration in mammals.

These studies, on a variety of laboratory, zoo and agricultural animals, show that the phenomenon of replacement of tissues lost in an ear punch is common to some other mammals as well as the rabbit, although the rabbit appears to be the most proficient in this process. It is suggested that the cartilage may be replaced in two ways, namely through the formation of a blastema as originally hypothesised by Markelova (Vorontsova & Liosner, 1960), and also from the perichondrium. The finding of bone tissue is supportive evidence enabling the suggestion that dedifferentiation, followed by deviant redifferentiation, does occur in the process of regeneration.