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oMega Project ID: 00000C960 Public
7522 Media · 174 Specimens · Managed by: Timothy Gomes

This is a Partner to Existing Networks (PEN) award to the Idaho Museum of Natural History to partner with the Open Vertebrate (oVert) Thematic Collections Network (TCN). The oVert TCN is creating high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) data for internal anatomy across the diversity of vertebrate animals. Using computed tomography (CT) scanners at institutional collections across the US, more than 20,000 fluid-preserved specimens will be scanned and made available online for open public use. This PEN complements the oVert TCN program by including vertebrate animals too large to be preserved in fluid or scanned by conventional CT scanners. The oMEGA PEN will use portable surface scanners to provide high-resolution scans of skeletons of large vertebrate animals curated at Harvard, Berkeley, and California Academy of Sciences. The addition of large vertebrates, including whales and elephants, provides an important segment of the animal world to open access collections for researchers and educators. The process of creating this 3D resource will provide training for undergraduate students, and on-site workshops for collections staff. Skeletal models will support TCN activities in creating K-12 STEM lesson plans and 3D-printable resources for the classroom. The digitized skeletons acquired in this PEN will help fill a major gap in the original TCN and support its research theme on the evolution of vertebrate morphological diversity. By virtue of their large size, vertebrates exceeding 250 kg define upper boundaries of size-dependent anatomical form and function, and therefore push the limits on development and physiology. These skeletal data will provide new opportunities to evaluate gigantism and the tendency of animal lineages toward ever-larger body size. Combined with the other oVert 3D specimens, the TCN's digital collection distributed through MorphoSource and iDigBio will inspire new research questions and provide the raw materials to test hypotheses in a broad range of biosciences. "This project is a continuation of the Virtual Zooarchaeology of the Arctic Projects (VZAP, NSF-ARC#0808933, ARC#1023321). Specimens originally digitized by the Idaho Museum of Natural History as a part of VZAP are made available within the oMega collection. Funding was provided by the NSF, Office of Polar Programs (OPP), and Arctic Social Sciences" This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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List of media items in this team
  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000104582 imnh:r:996 Puma Jardine Puma concolor Mesh 2020-02-28 Open Download  
000121841 imnh:r:2585 Rhea Rhea americana Mesh 2020-06-23 Open Download  
000111214 imnh:r:997 Myrmecophaga Linnaeus sp. Mesh 2020-03-16 Open Download  
000112048 imnh:r:1053 Bucephala Bucephala clangula Mesh 2020-03-17 Open Download  
000110504 imnh:r:923 Chelydra Schweigger Chelydra serpentina Mesh 2020-03-16 Open Download  
000110502 imnh:r:923 Chelydra Schweigger Chelydra serpentina Mesh 2020-03-16 Open Download  
000112677 imnh:r:1183 Bubo Dumeril Bubo virginianus Mesh 2020-03-17 Open Download  
000110524 imnh:r:938 Felis Linnaeus Felis margarita Loche Mesh 2020-03-16 Open Download  
000106484 imnh:r:218 ~ ~ Mesh 2020-03-09 Open Download  
000121094 imnh:r:2392 Lama Lama glama Mesh 2020-06-22 Open Download  
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