Beluga in Boxes

Due to inclement weather and a brief absence from our host, my fellow intern, Zoe, and I spent this week dismantling and packing an articulated Beluga skeleton. It was on it's way to the Kenaitze Tribe in Kenai where it would be hung from the ceiling in a learning center. We met with Lee Post, an expert on bones and skeleton articulation, on campus on Wednesday. We spent a few hours learning about how the SBB students from previous semesters performed a guided necropsy on this Beluga before they prepared for articulation. Lee guided the dismantling and gave us some tips on how to cut and glue the boxes together in order to properly support this Beluga for travel. Throughout the process, Lee talked us through the articulation techniques used (ex., large support rods through the vertebrae with silicone between individual vertebrae, straws used to give access to support screws). Lee also explained us through the functionality and purpose of certain bones such as the Atlas bone and the fusing of "cookies."