Anat Histol Embryol. 2020;00:1–7. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ahe | 1 © 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH 1 | INTRODUCTION The African giant rat (AGR) is found in abundance in the rainforests, grasslands and human habitations of Central and West Africa (Ali et al., 2011; Nzalak et al., 2015). The rat is social living in burrows, around drains and houses and is seen frequently at night. The animal walks and runs on the four legs and is a good climber and jumper (Nzalak et al., 2015). Research interest in the African giant has increased in order to understand its biology, potential for domestication and adapta- tion for laboratory use with these researches covering such areas as anatomy of the forebrain (Nzalak et al., 2008), gastrointestinal tract (Ali et al., 2008), skeleton (Salami et al., 2011), spinal cord (Olude et. al., 2015), reproduction (Ali et al., 2011), thermoregulation (Dzenda et al., 2011) and feed and water consumption (Dzenda et al., 2013) of the AGR. Received: 7 August 2019 | Revised: 25 September 2020 | Accepted: 14 October 2020 DOI: 10.1111/ahe.12630 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Morphology of the spinal nerves from the cervical segments of the spinal cord of the African giant rat (Cricetomys Gambianus) Sunday Men Maidawa 1 | Magdalene Nkweshi Ali 1 | Jibrin Imam 1 | Suleiman Olawoye Salami 2 | Adamu Zoaka Hassan 3 | Samuel Adeniyi Ojo 1 1 Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria 2 Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 3 Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Correspondence Sunday Men Maidawa, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Email: menmaidawajr@gmail.com Abstract This study provides detailed description of the gross morphology and distribution of the nerves arising from the cervical segments of the spinal cord of the African Giant Rat (AGR). Two (2) AGRs were used for this study. The rats were euthanized using halothane. The skin and superficial fascia were removed, and dissection of the muscles in the cervical region and thoracic limbs was carried out. The vertebral canal was opened by means of a rongeur. Eight (8) pairs of spinal nerves (C1–C8) arose from the cervical segments of the spinal cord of the AGR by means of dorsal and ventral roots which merged lateral to the spinal cord to form spinal nerves. Each cervical spinal nerve divided into a dorsal and ventral ramus just before exiting the intervertebral foramen. The dorsal rami divided into medial and lateral branches distributed on the medial faces of the semispinalis and splenius muscles, respectively. The ventral rami of C1, C2 and a branch from C3 interconnected to form the cervical plexus from which branches were distributed to the M. cleidomstoideus, M. cleidooccipitalis, M. oc- cipitoscapularis, M. omotransversarius and M. trapezius. The ventral rami of C5, C6, C7, C8 and T1 (first thoracic spinal nerve) interconnected to form the brachial plexus. The cervical spinal nerves gave rise to dorsal rami or primary branches that supplied the skin and muscles of the dorsal part of the neck and the ventral primary branches which interconnected to give rise to the cervical plexus and brachial plex- uses of the AGR. KEYWORDS African giant rat, brachial plexus, cervical plexus, morphology, spinal nerves