Artifact: Bone Collector
Fall 2015
Behind a heavy metal door in the Biological Sciences Building, the answers to some of the animal world 麻豆精品 S檚 most intriguing questions are stored. The Department of Biology 麻豆精品 S檚 vast collection of mammal, bird, reptile and fish bones includes more than聽a hundred species, ranging in size from rodents to whales. Associate instructor Frank Logiudice and his colleagues use the specimens to聽help students understand skeletal structure, comparative anatomy, physiology and other topics.
Here are some lessons Logiudice teaches using the bones of loggerhead sea turtles:
The tagging system of this teaching collection relays an array of information about the animal. This skull of a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) was recovered from a deceased animal that was tagged repeatedly while alive by UCF researchers beginning in 1979.
The loggerhead 麻豆精品 S檚 beak is composed of keratin and formed through a process similar to the formation of calluses on a human hand. 麻豆精品 S淭he skin is external to the bone, so as the bone is used, the skin will be modified聽to reflect [this], 麻豆精品 S� Logiudice points out. This same process was also seen with triceratops and can currently be observed in birds.
Besides using their large eyes to scan and navigate the ocean, loggerheads also use them to assist with hydration. 麻豆精品 S淚nside, there 麻豆精品 S檚 a salt gland, 麻豆精品 S� Logiudice says, 麻豆精品 S渁nd the salt gland lets them drink ocean water, and then they excrete the salt as tears. 麻豆精品 S�
This incomplete juvenile loggerhead carapace shows how the turtle 麻豆精品 S檚 bony shell grows over time. 麻豆精品 S淭urtles grow fairly slowly, 麻豆精品 S� says Logiudice. 麻豆精品 S淭hey have a slow metabolism, so that still works very well for them; it gives them better protection than cartilage, which is a little softer. 麻豆精品 S�
Since the turtle 麻豆精品 S檚 ribs are fused to their shell, 麻豆精品 S渢hey can 麻豆精品 S檛 breathe like we do, expanding their ribs, so they have to wiggle their flippers around, 麻豆精品 S� Logiudice explains. This wiggling motion helps bring oxygen into their lungs.
