Meeting Abstract
Skeletal material is fundamental for teaching comparative anatomy to undergraduates, providing hands-on experience with variation in size, evolutionary history, and function. Size specifically is a difficult-to-grasp concept that is also pivotal in art classes. We acquired an incomplete 55-foot fin whale skeleton consisting of over 150 unorganized, fractured, and stained bones. A dozen students and two faculty spent the last year recording, identifying, cleaning, repairing, re-building and preserving bones prior to their articulation. We distilled a variety of previously-developed techniques to restore and preserve the skeleton. This project has provided ways to teach drawing methods conveying size, scale, volume, and mass from different perspectives. Our skeleton has also allowed for student-led independent research as part of the capstone requirement of Knox’s Biology major. One student used measurements of changes in neural canal diameter as a proxy for the amount of information exiting the CNS at each spinal level. Differences in diameter of adjacent cervical and caudal vertebrae were the largest, suggesting that the greatest bandwidth of neural control is needed to drive mobility of the pectoral fins and tail. Another student-designed study investigated the long term effects of bacterial infection in vertebrae including degeneration of the vertebral centrum. To determine a possible causal pathogen, we are currently attempting to extract bacterial DNA with PCR. The restoration and articulation of the Knox College whale has been an incredible outlet for inter-departmental collaboration and development of undergraduate teaching and learning.
