Latest news with #VeraWeisbecker
The Advertiser
6 days ago
- Science
- The Advertiser
'Completely wacko': take a peek inside Australia's quirky native animals
The secret lives of some of Australia's most unique wildlife like koalas, kangaroos and platypuses are being revealed through a new, publicly available 3D image collection of their bones. The Ozboneviz database allows researchers, educators, students and members of the public to explore the inner make up of even some extinct mammals. The three-dimensional images allow people to view the skeletons "as if they held a bone in their hand", Flinders University's Associate Professor Vera Weisbecker said. The scans reveal a side of well-known animals most people never see, such as the platypus, which has pincer-like bones in its skull. "Platypus are, they're weird on the outside and on the inside, so they're a really special case - and echidnas as well, which are the platypus's closest relatives," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "[They're] just wacko because ... they're using their beaks a bit like a like a metal detector is used, so they swish their beak over the the the bottom of the lake and get little crabs and things, just by picking up on the electric impulses of their prey, which is the most amazing adaptation." She said platypus arm bones looked like butterflies. "When you think about an upper arm like a humerus, you think of the typical sort of bone with two thicker ends, like what's under a skull and crossbone," she said. "The upper arm, it looks like an hourglass or a butterfly because they are using these arms to do this specialised digging and it just makes whole bone crazy-looking." Seeing the cranium of a koala in 3D also sheds new light on how the iconic species survives. "The skull tells you everything about what an animal eats and its sensory system," the evolutionary biologist said. "Koalas, they have a very strange sort of combination of a rounded head and a really long snout, and that's something that you can only see when you look at it in detail and you compare it to something like a wombat skull which is much thicker." Being able to examine the bones of the kangaroo, the largest animal to hop, can also provide some insights into its evolution. "They're a really ancient group of animals that have evolved in isolation for 40 million years and people often think of them as a bit primitive compared to animals like cows and sheep ... but kangaroos are the obvious example for how that isn't true in the slightest because they have these really bizarre leg bones," she said. "The shin bone of a kangaroo is so large compared to the femur, the upper thigh bone, so it's completely disproportionate to anything you've ever seen. It's got these really long feet. "So it's just completely wacko." The image database of around nearly 200 species includes extinct animals like the desert rat kangaroo, pig-footed bandicoot and thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. "They were the really special ones because they are the ones that even the scientists, when they visit a museum, they don't necessarily get to see these animals or handle them because the bones are so valuable," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "The extinct ones are sitting in museum collections, very well protected and what we did is - we went in and scanned them." Australia's largest open-access atlas of its kind is a collaboration funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage and supported by the Australian Museum, South Australian and Northern Territory museums, the Australian National Wildlife Collection, and a number of universities. It can be viewed on MorphoSource. The secret lives of some of Australia's most unique wildlife like koalas, kangaroos and platypuses are being revealed through a new, publicly available 3D image collection of their bones. The Ozboneviz database allows researchers, educators, students and members of the public to explore the inner make up of even some extinct mammals. The three-dimensional images allow people to view the skeletons "as if they held a bone in their hand", Flinders University's Associate Professor Vera Weisbecker said. The scans reveal a side of well-known animals most people never see, such as the platypus, which has pincer-like bones in its skull. "Platypus are, they're weird on the outside and on the inside, so they're a really special case - and echidnas as well, which are the platypus's closest relatives," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "[They're] just wacko because ... they're using their beaks a bit like a like a metal detector is used, so they swish their beak over the the the bottom of the lake and get little crabs and things, just by picking up on the electric impulses of their prey, which is the most amazing adaptation." She said platypus arm bones looked like butterflies. "When you think about an upper arm like a humerus, you think of the typical sort of bone with two thicker ends, like what's under a skull and crossbone," she said. "The upper arm, it looks like an hourglass or a butterfly because they are using these arms to do this specialised digging and it just makes whole bone crazy-looking." Seeing the cranium of a koala in 3D also sheds new light on how the iconic species survives. "The skull tells you everything about what an animal eats and its sensory system," the evolutionary biologist said. "Koalas, they have a very strange sort of combination of a rounded head and a really long snout, and that's something that you can only see when you look at it in detail and you compare it to something like a wombat skull which is much thicker." Being able to examine the bones of the kangaroo, the largest animal to hop, can also provide some insights into its evolution. "They're a really ancient group of animals that have evolved in isolation for 40 million years and people often think of them as a bit primitive compared to animals like cows and sheep ... but kangaroos are the obvious example for how that isn't true in the slightest because they have these really bizarre leg bones," she said. "The shin bone of a kangaroo is so large compared to the femur, the upper thigh bone, so it's completely disproportionate to anything you've ever seen. It's got these really long feet. "So it's just completely wacko." The image database of around nearly 200 species includes extinct animals like the desert rat kangaroo, pig-footed bandicoot and thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. "They were the really special ones because they are the ones that even the scientists, when they visit a museum, they don't necessarily get to see these animals or handle them because the bones are so valuable," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "The extinct ones are sitting in museum collections, very well protected and what we did is - we went in and scanned them." Australia's largest open-access atlas of its kind is a collaboration funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage and supported by the Australian Museum, South Australian and Northern Territory museums, the Australian National Wildlife Collection, and a number of universities. It can be viewed on MorphoSource. The secret lives of some of Australia's most unique wildlife like koalas, kangaroos and platypuses are being revealed through a new, publicly available 3D image collection of their bones. The Ozboneviz database allows researchers, educators, students and members of the public to explore the inner make up of even some extinct mammals. The three-dimensional images allow people to view the skeletons "as if they held a bone in their hand", Flinders University's Associate Professor Vera Weisbecker said. The scans reveal a side of well-known animals most people never see, such as the platypus, which has pincer-like bones in its skull. "Platypus are, they're weird on the outside and on the inside, so they're a really special case - and echidnas as well, which are the platypus's closest relatives," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "[They're] just wacko because ... they're using their beaks a bit like a like a metal detector is used, so they swish their beak over the the the bottom of the lake and get little crabs and things, just by picking up on the electric impulses of their prey, which is the most amazing adaptation." She said platypus arm bones looked like butterflies. "When you think about an upper arm like a humerus, you think of the typical sort of bone with two thicker ends, like what's under a skull and crossbone," she said. "The upper arm, it looks like an hourglass or a butterfly because they are using these arms to do this specialised digging and it just makes whole bone crazy-looking." Seeing the cranium of a koala in 3D also sheds new light on how the iconic species survives. "The skull tells you everything about what an animal eats and its sensory system," the evolutionary biologist said. "Koalas, they have a very strange sort of combination of a rounded head and a really long snout, and that's something that you can only see when you look at it in detail and you compare it to something like a wombat skull which is much thicker." Being able to examine the bones of the kangaroo, the largest animal to hop, can also provide some insights into its evolution. "They're a really ancient group of animals that have evolved in isolation for 40 million years and people often think of them as a bit primitive compared to animals like cows and sheep ... but kangaroos are the obvious example for how that isn't true in the slightest because they have these really bizarre leg bones," she said. "The shin bone of a kangaroo is so large compared to the femur, the upper thigh bone, so it's completely disproportionate to anything you've ever seen. It's got these really long feet. "So it's just completely wacko." The image database of around nearly 200 species includes extinct animals like the desert rat kangaroo, pig-footed bandicoot and thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. "They were the really special ones because they are the ones that even the scientists, when they visit a museum, they don't necessarily get to see these animals or handle them because the bones are so valuable," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "The extinct ones are sitting in museum collections, very well protected and what we did is - we went in and scanned them." Australia's largest open-access atlas of its kind is a collaboration funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage and supported by the Australian Museum, South Australian and Northern Territory museums, the Australian National Wildlife Collection, and a number of universities. It can be viewed on MorphoSource. The secret lives of some of Australia's most unique wildlife like koalas, kangaroos and platypuses are being revealed through a new, publicly available 3D image collection of their bones. The Ozboneviz database allows researchers, educators, students and members of the public to explore the inner make up of even some extinct mammals. The three-dimensional images allow people to view the skeletons "as if they held a bone in their hand", Flinders University's Associate Professor Vera Weisbecker said. The scans reveal a side of well-known animals most people never see, such as the platypus, which has pincer-like bones in its skull. "Platypus are, they're weird on the outside and on the inside, so they're a really special case - and echidnas as well, which are the platypus's closest relatives," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "[They're] just wacko because ... they're using their beaks a bit like a like a metal detector is used, so they swish their beak over the the the bottom of the lake and get little crabs and things, just by picking up on the electric impulses of their prey, which is the most amazing adaptation." She said platypus arm bones looked like butterflies. "When you think about an upper arm like a humerus, you think of the typical sort of bone with two thicker ends, like what's under a skull and crossbone," she said. "The upper arm, it looks like an hourglass or a butterfly because they are using these arms to do this specialised digging and it just makes whole bone crazy-looking." Seeing the cranium of a koala in 3D also sheds new light on how the iconic species survives. "The skull tells you everything about what an animal eats and its sensory system," the evolutionary biologist said. "Koalas, they have a very strange sort of combination of a rounded head and a really long snout, and that's something that you can only see when you look at it in detail and you compare it to something like a wombat skull which is much thicker." Being able to examine the bones of the kangaroo, the largest animal to hop, can also provide some insights into its evolution. "They're a really ancient group of animals that have evolved in isolation for 40 million years and people often think of them as a bit primitive compared to animals like cows and sheep ... but kangaroos are the obvious example for how that isn't true in the slightest because they have these really bizarre leg bones," she said. "The shin bone of a kangaroo is so large compared to the femur, the upper thigh bone, so it's completely disproportionate to anything you've ever seen. It's got these really long feet. "So it's just completely wacko." The image database of around nearly 200 species includes extinct animals like the desert rat kangaroo, pig-footed bandicoot and thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. "They were the really special ones because they are the ones that even the scientists, when they visit a museum, they don't necessarily get to see these animals or handle them because the bones are so valuable," Associate Professor Weisbecker said. "The extinct ones are sitting in museum collections, very well protected and what we did is - we went in and scanned them." Australia's largest open-access atlas of its kind is a collaboration funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage and supported by the Australian Museum, South Australian and Northern Territory museums, the Australian National Wildlife Collection, and a number of universities. It can be viewed on MorphoSource.
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Distorted moles to lesser bilbies: a new way to marvel at Australia's supremely weird and unique mammals
The skeleton of Australia's supremely weird southern marsupial mole has a distorted skull 'that looks like a god rammed it into a mountain side on its day of creation', says Vera Weisbecker. It is one of 189 Australian mammals in a new public database of 3D scans of bones and skeletons where users can spin the mole's skeleton around, zooming in and out, to marvel at its oddness. 'It's my favourite because that skeleton is a one-stop shop that dispels the myth that our animals are primitive – it's like the essence of mammal design in so many ways, with these claws like shovels so they can almost swim through the sand,' Weisbecker says. Weisbecker, an associate professor at Flinders University in South Australia, is a self-confessed 'militant' out to dispel what she says is a common scientific myth that Australia's marsupial mammals are less evolved. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter To help in her mission, she has led the creation of Ozboneviz – a virtual collection of 1,600 bones and skeletons for researchers, teachers, students, artists and anyone else who wants to gaze at mandibles, femurs or the skeletons of ringtail possums or brush-tailed phascogales. 'Australia leads the world in mammal extinctions, but we are losing far more than a few fluffy rat-like critters,' she says. 'Our mammals have evolved in isolation for nearly 40m years – there is simply nothing like them anywhere else. They're all so weird and diverse.' As a German native, she says many scientists in the northern hemisphere with a western scientific background see even the common kangaroo as exotic. Australia's marsupials, to them, are 'an alternative universe'. To create Ozboneviz, researchers spent three years travelling around Australian museums and universities digitising specimens using a 3D light scanner. Some complete specimens were put into CT scanners so the whole skeleton could be digitised – such as the ringtail possum, the rakali (a native water rat), the golden bandicoot and the northern quoll. But there are also more individual mandibles, skulls, femurs and ankle bones in the collection than you can shake a tibia-shaped stick at. The technical detail in the collection means the online specimens can be used to help researchers identify bones found in the field. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion 'Hopefully this will lead the way to an even wider use of digitisation to make Australia's unique local biodiversity accessible to the global public,' Weisbecker says. Ten extinct species have also been digitised, including the full skeleton of the lesser bilby and the skull of the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger that some scientists are trying to revive. The 3D files are housed in a repository called MorphoSource, but some of the more important and intriguing specimens have been uploaded to a site allowing users to spin and zoom the 3D images. 'This means the public can compare the cranium of a fox to a thylacine and dingo, for example, and compare the size and shape of limb bones of common marsupials,' says the Flinders University archaeologist Dr Erin Mein, of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. The project is described in an article in the scientific journal Bioscience.
