The mineral component of bone is comprised mostly of the calcium phosphate mineral hydroxyapatite which is embedded in the organic component type I collagen. When bone is exposed to a mildly acid environment the mineral component leaches out leaving only the pliable organic component. Vinegar is safe to use and does not destroy the protein scaffolding that gives bone it’s characteristic shape. This is a human fibula tied in a knot.
Crâne de Gecko à queue foliacée / Henkel’s Leaf-tailed Gecko Skull (Uroplatus henkeli) by JC-Osteo on Flickr.
Okay so in color theory, we had this assignment to paint thirteen panels each with a different color harmony. This sounded tedious (spoiler: yes it was); so in order to combat that, I decided that I would paint dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.
Then I discovered we needed something for the backs of the panels. ‘Well,’ I said to my self, the wondering sparkle of ambition and naivete in my eye. ‘I’ll do skeletals for the backs and get bonus points!’
And then I had a presentation. And another presentation. And two twelve-page papers come due. And the rough draft for my thesis. Somehow, I forgot about the skeletals.
And then the panels were due on Monday.
Moral of the story: doing fourteen skeletals in two days is not a fun game, don’t try to play it. What is sleep? I don’t think I remember.
Anyway, enjoy some of the ones that I don’t actually hate. They are mostly coelurosaurs wow gee no one is surprised. (Also, surprise gorgonopsid!)
(via scientificillustration)
Gastornis
… is an extinct genus of large flightless bird that lived during the late Paleocene and Eocene epochs of the Cenozoic. It was named in 1855, after Gaston Planté, who had discovered the first fossils in Argile Plastique formation deposits at Meudon near Paris, France.
In the 1870s, the famous American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope discovered another, more complete set of fossils in North America, and named them Diatryma, which of course turned out later to be Gastornis.
Gastornis parisiensis measured on average 1.75 metres (5.7 ft) tall, but large individuals grew up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall. The Gastornis had a remarkably huge beak with a slightly hooked top, which was taken as evidence suggesting that it was carnivorous. Gastornis had large powerful legs, with large, taloned feet, which also were considered in support of the theory that it was a predator…
(read more: Wikipedia)
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The skeleton of an Arnoux’s Beaked Whale (Berardius arnuxii) with a Gray’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon grayi — then “australis”) for comparison; the last image is a cleaner version from Beddard. Points of interest for the Giant Beaked Whale include the relatively small head, long neck with with only the first three vertebrae fused, low vertebral spines, and elongate lumbar vertebrae. Beddard remarkably stated the “proportions are curiously suggestive of some of the extinct aquatic Mosasaurians, as well as of some of the Dinosaurs”, although to me, this species looks like a toned-down Basilosaurus.
Beddard also mentioned the teeth being erectile and kept in cartilaginous sacs (?!?!). I haven’t seen this fact mentioned recently, so has it been disproven or is it really true and just poorly-known?
Flower W. (1872) On the recent Ziphoid whales, with a description of the skeleton of Berardius arnouxi. Trans R Soc Lond 8 203–234.
Beddard, F. (1900) A Book of Whales.
(via scientificillustration)
Fig. 20.—Skeletons of Brontosaurus (above) and Diplodocus (below) in the American Museum. The parts preserved in these specimens are shaded. Scale, 10 feet=1 inch.
(via scientificillustration)
The skeleton of a Giant Hummingbird (Trochilus gigas now called Patagona gigas) by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.
Ryan Matthew’s Collection. Photo by Sergio Royzen.
Did you know what monkey is this?
Chitra indica - Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle - by BioDivLibrary on Flickr.
Catalogue of shield reptiles in the collection of the British Museum /.
London :Printed by order of the Trustees,1855-1872..
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4388547
