Artifact: Bone Collector
Fall 2015
Behind a heavy metal door in the Biological Sciences Building, the answers to some of the animal world鈥檚 most intriguing questions are stored. The Department of Biology鈥檚 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鈥檚 beak is composed of keratin and formed through a process similar to the formation of calluses on a human hand. 鈥淭he skin is external to the bone, so as the bone is used, the skin will be modified聽to reflect [this],鈥� 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. 鈥淚nside, there鈥檚 a salt gland,鈥� Logiudice says, 鈥渁nd the salt gland lets them drink ocean water, and then they excrete the salt as tears.鈥�
This incomplete juvenile loggerhead carapace shows how the turtle鈥檚 bony shell grows over time. 鈥淭urtles grow fairly slowly,鈥� says Logiudice. 鈥淭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.鈥�
Since the turtle鈥檚 ribs are fused to their shell, 鈥渢hey can鈥檛 breathe like we do, expanding their ribs, so they have to wiggle their flippers around,鈥� Logiudice explains. This wiggling motion helps bring oxygen into their lungs.
