I’m preparing to do anatomically-realistic computer modelling of giraffe locomotor mechanics with some colleagues. To do that, we of course need the 3D anatomy of bones, muscles and tendons, for which CT can be pretty useful. Here, we put our first frozen leg through the motions. It was a 3 person job to lift the sucker, but the CT bed managed to move it through the scanner with minimal hiccups. Inside the ring that the upper end of the leg is lined up with are 8 x-ray detectors, so 8 CT slices can be imaged at once, speeding the procedure.
This specimen died in a UK zoo recently, apparently from trauma (falling?), which we’re trying to help them figure out in the course of our scans and future dissections. We often provide a pretty detailed postmortem service in return for being given cadavers, since we are a vet school with a lot of expertise in pathology and anatomy. Also, we have been describing the kinds of pathologies we observe along the way, because terribly little is known about some diseases/injuries in non-domestic animals, so there is plenty we can contribute to the scientific literature as a result. We’re also interested in documenting how pathologies in wild vs. captive animals differ (if at all).
What's In John's Freezer? 
Should be called “What’s in John’s Scanner” 🙂
Ahh there will be plenty of scanner-free posts to come! 🙂
Scanning the frozen beasties is usually the first step I take before cutting into them. I like to preserve all the 3D data I can, and have the luxury of easy scanner access, so it would be naughty of me not to!
I’m one of the lucky guys who get to work on this, and let me tell you: when I saw the first slices of these scans my jaw dropped! John, you’re a CT wizard!
Bah, I’m no wizard; CT is easy once you know the basics! I do run the scanner myself, but I could train someone up to my level in <1 hr.
Now MRI… that's wizardry!
well, you’re beating a lot of radiologists hands down 😉
[…] doing part of that research, on specimens John previously CT-scanned. He has a bunch of posts up: 1, 2, 3, 4. What we are doing is a detailed dissection of giraffe legs. Not something I’d trust […]
…and the giraffe legs are now giving the elephant guts a run for their money as viral images, thanks to Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Beast: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/04/when-giraffes-get-a-ct-scan.html
In case you’re late to the party, and hungry for more giraffe-tastic images, don’t miss Heinrich Mallison’s dinosaurpaleo blog entries on the dissection of these ‘celebrity limbs’– (in reverse chronological order)
1. http://dinosaurpalaeo.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/mammal-monday-18-out-of-johns-freezer-again-non-gore-pics/
2. http://dinosaurpalaeo.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/giraffe-dissection-4-still-more-front-limb/
3. http://dinosaurpalaeo.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/giraffe-dissection-3-that-front-limb-aint-done-yet/
4. http://dinosaurpalaeo.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/giraffe-dissection-2-more-of-the-front-limb/
5. http://dinosaurpalaeo.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/mammal-monday-17-coming-to-you-out-of-johns-freezer/