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Specimen of the Week 385: UCL skulls

By ucwehlc, on 12 July 2019

This blog was written by Lily Garnett, volunteer at the UCL Pathology Museum

UCL.16.009 and UCL.16.018 are skulls. Like any human face, although they have the same features, they look different. They have both been processed for medical teaching, with cuts and hooks to reveal the inner workings of the cranium.

In terms of provenance, the history of these two individuals remains a mystery. The UCL prefix to their number indicates that they were found within the collection and their history prior to this is unknown. Before accurate plastic models became available in the 1990s, real human bones were used for teaching.

But where do you get a skeleton from?

Skulls UCL.16.009 and UCL.16.018

Skulls UCL.16.009 and UCL.16.018

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Specimen of the Week 353: The exploded crocodile skull

By ucwehlc, on 27 July 2018

Specimen of the week this week is the skull of a giant predator which has been subject to a very special preparation method. The result is not only educational, but is surely the specimen of the week with the coolest name ever, allow me to introduce…

 

LDUCZ-X121 exploded skull of Crocodylus porosus (saltwater crocodile)

LDUCZ-X121 exploded skull of Crocodylus porosus (saltwater crocodile)

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Specimen of the Week 323: The harp seal

By Nadine Gabriel, on 29 December 2017

It’s Nadine Gabriel with a Christmas dose of Specimen of the Week! As it’s only a few days after Christmas, I decided to choose a somewhat festive specimen for this week’s blog, so here’s an animal from (near) the North Pole – the harp seal!

Skull and mandible of a juvenile Pagophilus groenlandicus, LDUCZ-Z304

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Specimen of the Week 288: Pipistrelle bat skull

By Dean W Veall, on 21 April 2017

 

Pipistrelle sp. LDUCZ-Z617

Pipistrelle sp. LDUCZ-Z617

Hello Specimen of the Week fans, Dean Veall here. This week I have chosen a specimen that requires some very delicate handling as it’s a tiddler. The specimen is beautifully delicate and I would say demonstrates expert skills in preparation. This week’s Specimen of the Week is…

 

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Specimen of the Week 252 – The babirusa skull

By ucwepwv, on 12 August 2016

Happy Friday everyone! This week I’ve chosen a specimen of the week that has been used as an icon for the Grant Museum of Zoology and which represents one of the weirder looking critters with which we share the world – a species so strange that it grows its teeth through its face and on the rare occasion, back into its own head. That’s right, it’s the…

LDUCZ-Z111 Babyrousa babyrussa skull

LDUCZ-Z111 Babyrousa babyrussa skull

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Specimen of the Week 245: The peregrine falcon skull

By Will J Richard, on 24 June 2016

Hello folks! Will Richard here bringing you a record breaking specimen of the week. It is part of our Best of the Beasts trail and by the end of this blog I hope you’ll all see why. It’s the…

LDUCZ-Y1721 peregrine falcon skull

LDUCZ-Y1721 peregrine falcon skull

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Specimen of the Week 223: The Tasmanian wolf

By ucwepwv, on 18 January 2016

One of the most interesting things about zoology for me is the way in which skulls are sculpted by evolutionary and environmental forces. A particularly fascinating outcome of such processes is convergent evolution, which occurs when distantly related organisms live in a similar environment and have a similar mode of life, resulting in them looking and often behaving like each other. My favourite example of this phenomenon is shown by my Specimen of the Week…

LDUCZ-Z90 Thylacine skull [Grant Museum, UCL / Fred Langford-Edwards]

LDUCZ-Z90 Thylacine skull [Grant Museum, UCL / Fred Langford-Edwards]

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Specimen of the Week 219: Partridge Cranium and Mandible

By tcrnrh1, on 21 December 2015

Rachel Bray reporting for Specimen of the Week duties. Christmas Week is officially upon us! Are you embracing bountiful amounts of merriness and mirth? No? Well then reading this blog will contribute a big ol’ Christmassy tick to your December to do list. Taking festive inspiration from the popular carol Twelve Days of Christmas, this week’s Specimen of the Week is…

Side view of Phasianidae specimen

Phasianidae Cranium and Mandible – LDUCZ-Y1565

 

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Specimen of the Week 217: annotated green turtle half-skull

By ucwepwv, on 7 December 2015

This week I’ve picked a specimen to talk about that is being used in comparative zoology practicals at the moment. I chose it because it has been helpfully labelled to show each of the bones which fit together to form the remarkable piece of biological architecture that is the skull. So this week’s Specimen of the Week is…

LDUCZ-X833 annotated green turtle skull

LDUCZ-X833 annotated green turtle skull

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Specimen of the Week 212: I am the Walrus

By ucwepwv, on 2 November 2015

After spending my Halloween weekend dressed as a vampire, I’ve been thinking a lot about animals with big fangs that feed by suction.

Walrus skull Odobenus rosmarus LDUCZ-Z2270

Walrus skull Odobenus rosmarus LDUCZ-Z2270

That’s right, my Specimen of the Week is…

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