General Zoology

Covering and Skeleton of Bird

The bird's most distinctive character is the presence of feathers. They arise from the skin and are related to the scales. The complete mounted specimen of booted-eagle illustrates the feathers and the skeleton illustrates the various parts of the skeleton.

Skull of an Elephant

The longitudinal section of the skulls of man, horse and an elephant serves to illustrate comparatively small brain cavity and the air spaces in the skull of the elephant.

Tusks with Mirror

A pair of elephant's tusks are fixed on either side of an oval shaped mirror. The whole exhibit was received as a gift from Mrs. Kamala Raghavachari, Chennai.

Skull of the Indian Elephant showing its enormous tusks The massive skulls of full grown tuskers, with tusks weighing over 50 pounds each, from Coimbatore District, are exhibited on pedestals on either side of the gallery. The tusks are of solid ivory and attain an enormous length, as they continue to grow throughout life. As is well known, they are of great commercial value, and form the raw material for all ivory products.

Wings of Birds

The birds possess the powerful wings, which are the modified forearms, make long and sustained flight. The wing muscles are very strongly developed in all flying birds and are supported by a prominent keel running down the middle of the breastbone. Further, the bones themselves are light and spongy rendering the whole body comparatively light and well adapted for flight.

Introduction to Zoological Galleries

The Zoological galleries of Government Museum, Chennai extend over eleven halls, adjoining the Sculpture galleries of the Archaeological section. In the ground floor galleries, exhibits pertaining to skeletons, dentitions, integumentary structures, reptiles, birds, mammals and some foreign animals are on display, while in the first floor galleries, invertebrates and fishes are on display. Spectacular and outstanding exhibits in the Zoological galleries are as follows: the largest and most reputed among the exhibits in the Zoological galleries is the gigantic skeleton of the Great Indian Baleen Whale (Balaenoptera indica = Balaenoptera musculus) suspended from the centre of the ceiling in the hall of General Zoological galleries. This skeleton of whale, measuring over 60 feet in length was washed ashore in Mangalore in 1874 AD. The other notable skeletal exhibits in the museum are the huge skeleton of the Indian elephant and its skull with tusks, the skeleton of tiger, panther, kangaroo, dugong and the skeletons of man and horse. During 1980, old sloping cases were replaced by modernised show cases in the General Zoology Gallery. All the exhibits were reorganised with miniature models of animals made of fibreglass materials so as to enable visitors to understand easily. Although the scope of the collections is limited to South Indian fauna, this museum has acquired a few birds and mammals from some foreign countries. Among the exhibits in these galleries, the orangutan, the tapir, the kangaroo, the duck billed platypus, the ostrich, the cassowary and the macaw parrots are the most outstanding ones. Apart from the few exhibits of foreign animals, the bulk of the museum collection consists of specimens of indigenous animals, which will give complete picture of South Indian fauna. Among the reptiles exhibited in the Reptile Gallery, a huge specimen of leathery turtle, a tortoise from Seychelles, specimens of the Indian species of crocodiles, a large number of South Indian species of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes and South Indian species of lizards are important exhibits. In the Bird Gallery adjacent to the Reptile Gallery, during 1960, the old show cases were replaced by modernised show cases with concealed lighting. In this gallery complete series of South Indian birds are arranged systematically in the natural sequence. The most unique and valuable of bird's collection are a pair of pink-headed ducks. In 1988, the Children's Gallery, accommodated in the mezzanine floor of the new natural history block, was moved to the new Children's Museum building. Another group of bird collection (Passerine birds) displayed in the ground floor are shifted to the mezzanine floor of the new natural history block. Selected examples of some South Indian mammals, aquatic mammals such as dolphin, dugong and skeletons of tiger, sambar, and the gigantic skeleton of male elephant are on display in the Mammal Gallery. This male elephant, had killed two men and was eventually, captured near Chengam, in Tamilnadu in 1887 AD. It was exceptionally a large animal during life and was 11 feet in height. In recent years, new features introduced in the Zoological galleries are displaying animals, as pleasing and attractive as possible by exhibiting them in the form of illuminated dioramas. Eleven such dioramas were set up and open to the public in 1999 in the ground floor of the new natural history block. The spacious hall on the first floor, directly above the old Mammal Gallery is devoted to the display of Indian fishes. In this gallery, an enormous specimen of the whale shark is displayed suspending from the ceiling. This specimen is twenty-two feet long and was captured in Chennai in 1889 AD. The other fishes of the Indian waters, such as Rayner's shark, the saw fish, tiger shark and the sword fish impress the visitors by their unusual size and structural peculiarities. Besides the outstanding exhibits of Vertebrate animals, the Zoological galleries possess a wealth of materials comprising the lowly organised Invertebrate animals. The collection of corals exhibited in the front hall of the Invertebrate Gallery includes a wide range of specimens of various species. The notable exhibits in the Invertebrate gallery are sacred chank and other molluscan shells, starfishes, sea urchins and insects. Besides the exhibited specimens, the Zoological section possesses a large reserve collection consisting of over a thousand specimens stored in jars and several hundreds of dry preserved specimens preserved in boxes and cabinets.

Systems of classification

Morphography is the systematic exploration, tabulation and characterization of data concerning animals, existing or extinct. It is similar to ethnography. Groups of people who have contributed to the field include past museum-makers of and their modern descendants, the curators and annotators of zoological collections, early explorers and modern naturalist travelers and writers collectors of fossils and paleontologists.

Subfields of zoology

Although the study of animal life is ancient, its scientific incarnation is relatively modern. This mirrors the transition from natural history to biology at the start of the nineteenth century. Since Hunter and Cuvier, comparative anatomical study has been associated with morphography shapins the modern areas of zoological investigation: anatomy, physiology, histology, embryology, and animal behaviour. Modern zoology first arose in German and British universities. In Britain, Thomas Henry Huxley was a prominent figure. His ideas were centered on the morphology of animals. Many consider him the greatest comparative anatomist of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Similar to Hunter, his courses were composed of lectures and laboratory practical classes in contrast the previous format of lectures only. This system became widely spread.

Gradually zoology expanded beyond Huxley's comparative anatomy to include the following sub-disciplines:

1. Zoography, also known as descriptive zoology, describes animals and their habitats.
2. Comparative anatomy studies the structure of animals.
3. Animal physiology
4. Molecular Biology studies the common genetic and developmental mechanisms of animals and plants
5. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour.
6. Behavioural ecology
7. Evolutionary biology: See of both animals and plants is considered in the articles on evolution, population genetics, heredity, variation, Mendelism,reproduction.
8. Systematics, cladistics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, biogeography and taxonomy classify and group species via common descent and regional associations.
9. The various taxonomically-oriented disciplines such as mammalogy, herpetology, ornithology identify and classify species and study the structures and mechanisms specific to those groups. Entomology is the study of insects, by far the largest group of animals.
10. Palaeontology

Bones and Calcium

Abstract

Why is your grandmother always wondering if you are drinking enough milk? Our bones are made out of calcium, a mineral found in milk, and drinking milk can lead to strong healthy bones. What about other animals? What are their bones made of? What kind of bones do they have? Are there animals without bones? Are endoskeletons and exoskeletons made out of the same materials?

Objective

In this experiment you will explore the similarities and differences between bones and other hard parts from animals to determine which have properties similar to the calcium found in bones.

Introduction

Imagine what your body would be like without a skeleton. It would be too soft and squishy to stand up, and would not have the strength for walking or running. Our skeletons are very important for having large, muscular dynamic bodies that can move. Skeletons are important for a whole group of animals, called vertebrates, which like us have bones inside their bodies to support them.

Some of these vertebrates we like to eat: fish, chicken, beef and pork. Their bones are remarkably similar to ours, and are made out of the same mineral calcium. Calcium is important for other parts of the body as well, and vertebrates have found many ways to use calcium to build hard parts of the body like teeth or eggshells. All vertebrates use internal bony skeletons made out of calcium to support their bodies, but how do other animals support their bodies?

Other animals, called invertebrates, use many different strategies to support their body weight. Some invertebrates like earthworms have no hard body parts at all, and use a hydrostatic skeleton that supports the body using water pressure. Other invertebrates, like insects and crustaceans, have hard body parts on the outside of their bodies called an exoskeleton. A good example of this is a crab shell, a hard covering that both protects and supports the body of the crab. Other invertebrates make shells that partially enclose their body, like a snail shell. Some invertebrates, like sea urchins, even use their spiny skeletons for protection from predators.

What are these types of skeletons made of? Are bones and invertebrate exoskeletons made out of the same materials? One way to find out is to use another chemical that reacts with the calcium in bone to test if other hard body parts from other animals are also made out of calcium. You can use common household vinegar to react with the calcium found in bones. Will other animals have calcium in their hard parts too?

Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research

To do this type of experiment you should know what the following terms mean. Have an adult help you search the Internet, or take you to your local library to find out more!

• bone
• calcium
• skeleton
• endoskeleton
• exoskeleton
• vertebrate
• invertebrate
• mineralization
• calcification
• acid

Materials and Equipment

• vinegar
• cups
• hard parts of several different types of animals:
  • chicken bones
  • fish bones
  • egg
  • crab claw
  • shrimp shells
  • sea urchin test
  • tooth
  • snail shells
  • fingernail clippings

Experimental Procedure

1. Get several different types of materials to test from the hard parts from many different animal sources. Get as many different sources from as many different kinds of animals as you can. Use your imagination and the grocery store. Many grocery stores will give out soup bones for free.
2. Place each sample in a cup and label the cup with a description of the material.
3. Make initial observations of each sample. What does it feel like? What does it look like? Write down your observations in a data table, focusing on the similarities and differences between materials.
4. Pour vinegar into each cup until the sample is submerged, or covered, with vinegar.
5. Let your cups sit at room temperature for several days. Check the cups once in a while to be sure that the vinegar is still covering the material in the cup. You may need to add more vinegar to the cup if necessary.
6. Remove the samples from the vinegar and then observe the materials. How do they look and feel? How do the textures compare to before treatment with the vinegar?
7. Write down your observations in a data table, focusing on the similarities and differences between materials.
8. How do endoskeletons and exoskeletons compare? Did they react with the vinegar in a similar or different way? Do you think they are made out of similar or different materials?

Variations

• Bones are made out of calcium, which can be found in different forms in many vitamins and antacids. Try putting some calcium vitamins and different brands of antacids into a vinegar solution. Do they react similarly to the vinegar as bone?
• Some vertebrate bones have special adaptations. For example, the bones of birds are hollow to make them lighter for flight. Closely examine the bone of a chicken and you will notice tiny chambers in the middle of the bone. Chickens don't really fly, but they still have remnants of this type of bone structure. Examine the bones of some other birds from the store: turkey, quail, Cornish hen, goose or duck. What similarities do they all have? How are they different?
• One way to really clean off a skeleton is to boil the bones and then soak the skeleton in bleach. Try doing this with a quail, Cornish hen or small chicken. Can you put the skeleton back together?