PREVIEW

Hidden away in the back rooms of natural history museums, thousands of rare specimens have long been out of reach for both the public and researchers, confined to a select group of individuals. Now, thanks to the completion of a six-year-long project, the hidden treasures are unveiled in stunning detail for everyone to explore, free of charge.

The openVertebrate (oVert) initiative, a collaborative effort involving scientists from 18 different institutions, used CT scanning technology to create 3D models of over 13,000 vertebrate specimens, encompassing more than half of all known genera of amphibians, reptiles, fish, and mammals.

While the bulk of the digital reconstructions showcases skeletal forms, leading to eerie yet fascinating visuals, the application of special dyes to enhance contrast has enabled the creation of vibrant visualizations of the soft tissues of these creatures. Previously, researchers would have to use destructive methods like dissection to get a peek at the inside of a specimen; these scans help to keep the samples intact instead.

Scientists have already made discoveries using the scans such as learning that a rare rim rock crown snake was killed while trying to eat a centipede.

Meanwhile, it also revealed that a dinosaur called the Spinosaurus, which was larger than the Tyrannosaurus rex and was long believed to be aquatic was, in fact, a poor swimmer and would have remained on land.

Specimens also revealed that frogs have an on-off relationship with teeth, with scientists estimating that they’ve lost and regained them more than 20 times during their evolution.

The research paper said that while they were able to get most amphibian and reptile specimens, it's unlikely they'll make more progress for birds and mammals because of the lack of available specimens in the U.S.

“Museums are constantly engaged in a balancing act,” Blackburn said. “You want to protect specimens, but you also want to have people use them. oVert is a way of reducing the wear and tear on samples while also increasing access, and it’s the next logical step in the mission of museum collections.”

Even moderately sized specimens at times required a little ingenuity, as was the case with a set of iconic tortoises at the California Academy of Sciences.

“They have the largest Galapagos tortoise collection in the world. These are not things you put in boxes and loan,” Blackburn said.

Using funds from another partnering grant, curatorial staff members had to come up with a way to photograph each tortoise in a 360-degree rotation. Photographing their undersides was problematic, as their curved shells made it impossible to keep them upright. After a few trial-and-error runs, they settled on placing the specimens on top of inflatable swimming tubes.

Scientists have already used data from the project to gain astonishing insights into the natural world.

In 2023, Edward Stanley was conducting routine CT scans of spiny mice and was surprised to find their tails were covered with an internal coat of bony plates, called osteoderms. Before this discovery, armadillos were considered to be the only living mammals with these structures.

Blackburn said it’s important that people around the world can view these specimens because it won’t require them to travel to collaborate, adding that it’s prohibitive in a lot of ways.’

He continued: ‘Now we have scientists, teachers, students, and artists around the world using these data remotely.’

As of March 2024, the program is already being used by more than 3,700 people and the data generated by oVert has been viewed more than one million times.

The oVert 3-D data was viewed and downloaded by scientists, undergrad and graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, faculty, collection managers, K-12 teachers, exhibit staff, and more, according to the oVert research paper published in BioScience.

‘It’s been a game-changer for my evolution unit,’ Jennifer Broo, a high school teacher in Cincinnati told the Florida Museum.