Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXI
Written by Ioana DUMITRU, Cristian DEZDROBITU, Alexandru GUDEA, Irina IRIMESCU, Cristian MARTONOS, Bianca MATOSZ, Florin SILAGHI, Aurel DAMIAN
Conservation of animal skeletons is necessary for various reasons - often to determine the species or as decorative items, but we are interested in terms of their use as teaching materials. Students can achieve artistic projects using bones; they can learn species identification and deducing elements of the animal’s life by measuring bones. Applying the techniques of obtaining a skeleton can be an enriching experience in the educational process of any student. The aim of this study was to obtain two complete rabbit skeletons and to asses the efficiency of the whitening and the degreasing substances. The materials used were: two rabbit cadavers, dissection instruments, insect colony, hydrogen peroxide, sodium bicarbonate, acetic acid, acetone, gasoline, wooden bases, support wires and silicone gun. To obtain the skeletons we have used the technique of maceration with the help of insects, with a previous dissection of the carcasses. In both cases, the maceration process took 7 day to complete for the body and, 5 day for the cranium, respectively. The osseous pieces thus obtained were frozen at -180 C to eliminates the remaining insects. The skeletons have then undergone a 24 hours whitening process using hydrogen peroxide and sodium bicarbonate, respectively, followed by 24 hours of drying at room temperature, and by 24 hours degreasing using acetone and gasoline. The processing was completed by a final drying period and the assembly on the mounts. In conclusion we can mention the fact that the process of skeleton preservation is scrupulous, time-consuming, but it yields satisfying results in terms of anatomic characteristics maintenance and didactic usability.
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