Completion

Our rabbit skeleton reconstruction project is finally complete! Here is the finished product, as well as the diagram we used:

-Janessa and Allison

Gluing Part 2

We got together later that weekend to get the project finished. It was time to get some bigger things done, so we attached the pelvis to the spine and let it dry. Then we measured out the angles we would need the limbs to be and glued these together. These things all took much more glue to keep it sturdy than the toes did.

While these dried we got back to work on the feet, attaching the toes together and the ankles. The front toes were much smaller and simpler than the back ones. Then we were able to combine the rear legs and the pelvis and spine. We had to be really careful in letting it dry for long enough.

Then we were able to start mounting things onto the wooden board. We used pencils as dowels with little pieces on sponge on the end to support the important parts. We measured out based on the angles on the back legs were the feet should be placed. The legs fit nicely onto the ankles. The two pieces of spine we also reattached. It had been easier to work with them in two smaller pieces until this point. We did not glue down the front legs or feet yet, just placed them down for a visual.

From this point we needed to attach the ribs. We were glad we kept them in order so we knew exactly where they needed to go. It was time for more teamwork with the delicate nature of all the tiny ribs that needed to be held in place.

After all the ribs were in place, we just needed to attach the arms and front feet to the base, the shoulder blades, last bit of tail, and the head. It was about an additional 6 hours of work that day. We were very happy once the entire project was transported safely to school!

Here are some additional angles of the complete rabbit skeleton. I would estimate that the project took over 20 hours to complete. It required lots of patience and pushing the limits of what we thought we could do, especially in the early stages. Although I would not like to ever skin a rabbit again, I do think this project was worth it in the end. It was the kind of learning experience you do not get in a classroom, and will probably never have the chance to do again. We were both perfectionists when it came to the cleanliness of our bones and the accuracy of the skeleton. We were also proud of all the hard work we put into it.



Gluing Part 1

Since our last post we didn't have much time to work on this project. It mostly requires large blocks of time when we can get together. We did each put in some time on our own to finish up a few cleaning jobs. Janessa worked on the spine for quite a while. It needed to be reboiled, which worked best on two wires to keep the bones in order. They kind of looked like immunity idol necklaces from the show Survivor. Once they were all seperated they were cleaned some more with baking soda. Then also lots on time spent picking away at all the extra stuff. The insides were tricky to get completely clean but eventually were very nice, after using toothpicks, fingers, tweezers, and lots of patience. Allison got some hydorgen peroxide to soak all the bones in and made sure everything else was perfectly clean. About 10 hours total were spent cleaning. We started out first day of gluing with the limbs still in seperate bowls and the spine still on wire.

We got a wooden board to set everything up on. For gluing we used both a contact cement for durability and super glue for quick drying. Both can be found a Dollarama. It was kind of scary to just start gluing but we got started on the feet, since those had the most little bones. Each of the four toes had multiple sections to attach in a row. It was delicate work because of having so many tiny bones, but we felt better once each of the toes were in solid pieces. It took teamwork to get this part done, applying both glues with toothpicks and holding things in place. Then we split up and each did half the spine, attaching each vertebrae by following the natural curve of the spine. By the end of the day we felt like we had made some good progress. It was about 4 hours of gluing.