Hedgehog take two

Remember the hedgehog skeleton I posted a few months ago? Well, it was badly damaged by careless students soon after. This was partly my fault because I articulated with as little wire as possible (all carefully hidden) and no additional support, for a free standing finished mount despite the knowledge that it would be used in zoology practicums and it wasn't meant to be a display only specimen.
That being said, it's also due to the incredible carelessness of some students when handling natural history specimens. The need to handle those properly and carefully, especially when it comes to teaching collections which are used by generation of students, cannot be stressed enough.
Well, lesson learned, and I spent some time repairing it and reinforcing it with wires and additional support. Unfortunately, a toe was lost in the process.

I also added a brass plaque to the base, which always adds to the finished piece I think.

 Right side view

 Detail of the scapular belt area

 Detail of the right leg


Despite the fact that I don't like at all to come back on a specimen I consider finished, this was an interesting experience, since I usually don't build skeletons with that much wiring although I kind of like the look of it.

It's now back in the university teaching collections, let's hope it stays in one piece this time!

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.