Harbour seal

This harbour seal was found dead on the North Sea cost. It was collected and transferred to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of University of Liège (Prof. Thierry Jauniaux). Before necropsy by the veterinary team, we wanted a closer look at the animal skeleton in order to highlight the different adaptations (flippers, nares position, elongated skull, cervical vertebrae, etc.) to their peculiar way of life. And therefore we asked for a CT scan.

A CT scan, also known as computed tomography scan, makes use of computer-processed combinations of many X-ray measurements taken from different angles to produce cross-sectional images (virtual "slices") of specific areas of a object, allowing the user to see inside the object without cutting. Once we have acquired the slices, the aim of the game was to re-construct the “saucisson” which was done by our computer graphics designer, Steven Braine under the scientific supervision of Prof. Eric Parmentier (Faculty of Science, University of Liège). Hence, we have added colours to different bones to underline the different units that form the skeleton.

Vue en 3D du phoque (sketchfab)

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Harbour seal Skeloton

This model was created as part of the project “Marine Mammals”
This project is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement no 710708.