This week’s post is from Michael Granatosky, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago in the department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy (Figure 1). If you would like to write for Anatomy to You, get in touch via Facebook or Twitter. Figure 1. Michael Granatosky (left) collecting data in Brazil on the comparative energetic…
Tag: skeleton
In focus: Streetlamps, cranes and the internal architecture of the human femur
We are back after a break! And we have a nice series of posts planned already from numerous guest writers! To kick things off, let’s get hip to bone structure. This week’s post is from Diogo M. Geraldes, PhD CEng MIMechE MEng; a biomedical engineer in London. If you would like to write for Anatomy…
In focus: Investigating the Biomechanics of the Tadpole from Hell
by Eva Herbst, Structure & Motion Lab, The Royal Veterinary College, UK. If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch, such as on Twitter or Facebook. Fig. 1 Reconstruction of Crassigyrinus scoticus (Panchen & Smithson 1990) My name is Eva Herbst and I started my PhD with John Hutchinson and co-supervisor…
In focus: How much do turtles wiggle their hips?
by Christopher Mayerl, Evolutionary Morphology and Biomechanics Laboratory at Clemson University (S. Carolina, USA). If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch, such as on Twitter or Facebook. When you see a turtle, you automatically know it’s a turtle and not something else, probably because of its distinctive shell. However, there’s…
In focus: The big picture of little bones in tuatara
By Sophie Regnault with John Hutchinson and Marc Jones Sesamoid bones are specialised, typically small, bones found in tendons near to joints, with several unusual characteristics. We’ve covered them here before. These sesamoids tend to alter the mechanics of joints, and their development also seems highly influenced by movement. They can vary between individuals or…
#FossilFriday New discoveries at your feet: 40 million year-old sea cow found in Spanish pavement!
It’s not uncommon to glance down at the pavement or the floor of a shopping centre and spot traces of ancient life – ammonites and belemnites can be seen in deposits all over the world, for example. But in the Spanish town of Girona, the paving slabs of one street have offered up a very…
In focus: The mysterious extra ‘digits’ of pandas, moles and elephants
The biological ‘five finger rule’ is strikingly consistent throughout living tetrapod vertebrates. Humans and other primates, most carnivorous mammals, crocodiles, lizards and tortoises all typically possess the five digits (fingers and toes) characteristic of tetrapod limbs. It wasn’t always so – the ancient ancestors of the first vertebrates to walk on land, such as Ichthyostega and Acanthostega, had up to…
#ThrowbackThursday individual bone cells from ‘Lucy’ tell the story of her growth
This rather abstract-looking image shows a tiny patch (around 110 micrometres across) of an ancient hominid femur. ‘Lucy’ is one of the the oldest and probably the most famous early human-like primate, belonging to the species Australopithecus afarensis. She lived around 3.2 million years ago in sub-Saharan Africa, and her remains were discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia….
Platypus x-rays show shadows of its “reptilian” ancestry
Platypuses belong to an ancient group of mammals, the monotremes. Today, these are the only living mammalian species to lay eggs, and the group also includes echidnas. But, as the x-rays of Dr Larry Vogelnest show, the platypus retains several skeletal features which link it to its distant ancestors (often called reptiles, but more technically referred…
Rattlesnake strikes are far more sophisticated than a simple ‘spring’ release
More than half of a rattlesnake’s body may be involved in striking behaviour, particularly where the strike is defensive, and the anterior third of body length is usually active when hunting. The remainder of the body ‘anchors’ the snake to a solid base position. Tracking the kinematics of a single strike reveals that different segments of…
Photographer captures turtle skeleton and discovers a clutch of eggs
Ted Kinsman, professor of photographic sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology, found this unfortunate expired snapping turtle at the roadside and made it the subject of his next project. What he didn’t expect was to discover a clutch of eggs within, revealed by X-ray. Turtles may have carry up to 30 fertilised eggs from…
Stunning X-ray still life images show skeletal adaptations in life poses
Seeing the skeleton in action can give viewers a very different perspective on adaptation and evolution, and most museums endeavour to pose their exhibits in real life position. This can be tricky, reassembling the bones and trying to give a realistic impression of total body shape and size beyond the skeleton itself. These images, from…
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