Post by warsaw on Mar 17, 2012 11:03:26 GMT -9
The story of the polar bear skeleton
The specimens here are homemade and they are the result of the veterinary medicine department teachers’ and the students’ efforts in the last couple of decades. These cadavers are donations of various sources such as individual donations, public sectors, and non-governmental organizations. The source of the polar bear skeletal specimen is considered quite special.
In the summer of 1980, a European circus was performing in Kaohsiung. The circus comprised a large number of performing animals including a group of polar bears. The weather was hot and humid at the time and potentially due to elevated stress level from performing, an adult male polar bear died unexpectedly. In order to clarify if the cause of death was contagious, the polar bear was rushed to the Department of Veterinary Medicine of Taiwan Provincial Pingtung Institute of Agriculture for postmortem pathological examination and etiological culture. The result indicated that this was simply a case of death caused by heat shock and the concern of possible malignant contagious overseas disease was finally lifted.
The carcass was going to be cremated after the examination was completed. However, since it was confirmed that the death was not caused by disease, it was intended to make the carcass into a skeleton specimen. After obtaining the permission to donate the carcass from the circus leader and completing all relevant legal procedures, the carcass was made into teaching skeleton specimen a year later.
For the past 27 years, this specimen experienced some large scale relocations. It was first moved from the Northern Campus to Neipu Campus and was placed in Room VM012 (currently the Precision Instruments Center). Later it was relocated to its current storage location Room VM110 after Council of Extension Education and Services moved out of the Veterinary Science department. In 2006, a very heavy rain flooded the first floor where the water rose up to 20 to 30 centimeter in a very short time. All the specimens placed on platforms closer to the ground were all soaked in the water, including the polar bear. Consequently, moulds started growing on the surface of the bone. The moulds had to be removed carefully and the restoration effort took several months to bring the skeleton back to its original state.
Today, many of the specimen images have been digitalized and some will even be made into 3-D animations to be uploaded on to the Internet. The museum of veterinary anatomy thereby can break through the limitations of time and space and share its special archives ubiquitously. Thanks to unexpected surprises and twists in life, the Polar Bear stayed in Taiwan forever and devoted himself as a teacher of polar bear skeleton. We are forever grateful for your contribution.
npuir.npust.edu.tw/web/feature/featuredetail_eng.jsp?feaid=3
The specimens here are homemade and they are the result of the veterinary medicine department teachers’ and the students’ efforts in the last couple of decades. These cadavers are donations of various sources such as individual donations, public sectors, and non-governmental organizations. The source of the polar bear skeletal specimen is considered quite special.
In the summer of 1980, a European circus was performing in Kaohsiung. The circus comprised a large number of performing animals including a group of polar bears. The weather was hot and humid at the time and potentially due to elevated stress level from performing, an adult male polar bear died unexpectedly. In order to clarify if the cause of death was contagious, the polar bear was rushed to the Department of Veterinary Medicine of Taiwan Provincial Pingtung Institute of Agriculture for postmortem pathological examination and etiological culture. The result indicated that this was simply a case of death caused by heat shock and the concern of possible malignant contagious overseas disease was finally lifted.
The carcass was going to be cremated after the examination was completed. However, since it was confirmed that the death was not caused by disease, it was intended to make the carcass into a skeleton specimen. After obtaining the permission to donate the carcass from the circus leader and completing all relevant legal procedures, the carcass was made into teaching skeleton specimen a year later.
For the past 27 years, this specimen experienced some large scale relocations. It was first moved from the Northern Campus to Neipu Campus and was placed in Room VM012 (currently the Precision Instruments Center). Later it was relocated to its current storage location Room VM110 after Council of Extension Education and Services moved out of the Veterinary Science department. In 2006, a very heavy rain flooded the first floor where the water rose up to 20 to 30 centimeter in a very short time. All the specimens placed on platforms closer to the ground were all soaked in the water, including the polar bear. Consequently, moulds started growing on the surface of the bone. The moulds had to be removed carefully and the restoration effort took several months to bring the skeleton back to its original state.
Today, many of the specimen images have been digitalized and some will even be made into 3-D animations to be uploaded on to the Internet. The museum of veterinary anatomy thereby can break through the limitations of time and space and share its special archives ubiquitously. Thanks to unexpected surprises and twists in life, the Polar Bear stayed in Taiwan forever and devoted himself as a teacher of polar bear skeleton. We are forever grateful for your contribution.
npuir.npust.edu.tw/web/feature/featuredetail_eng.jsp?feaid=3