Pathological hedgehog

Here are a few pictures of an european hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) I recently prepared for the teaching collections of the University of Montpellier 2.

 The skeleton was macerated and then articulated using wire and glue.

Due to an unfortunate mistake (not my own), some bones were lost during the cleaning process, including some tail vertebrae, and the hyoid apparatus.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the dissection, but it was obvious that this specimen had a severe dental issue, with missing teeth and heavy calculus, most of which came away during the cleaning process.

 Close up on the cleaned skull

 Palatine view of the skull before the remaining teeth were glued back in place. Notice the damaged dental alveoli.

But the most interesting feature was not obvious until the bones were completely clean : several vertebrae exhibited abnormal bone growth (known as osteophytes) on the ventral side, especially in the lumbar region. This is consistent with a degenerative disease known as spondylitis deformans, which causes a stiffening of the axial skeleton among other things.

I'm currently working on a rattlesnake exhibiting a much more impressive bone condition, but more on this one in a later post.