Bovine Skeleton Preparation Using Hot Water Technique for Anatomical Studies

Aims: The aim of this study was to prepare and document the processing of skeleton of a bovine species and to determine the time involved in the preparation.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Animal Health and Production, College of Agriculture and Animal Science Bakura, Zamfara State, Nigeria, between October 2018 and November 2018.

Methodology: The skeleton of a Red Bororo bull was prepared and mounted using a hot water technique comprising skinning, evisceration and de-fleshing of carcass, carcass maceration, bone drying, frame construction, drilling and articulation of bones and bone varnishing. The time taken for each of the steps was determined using a digital stop watch.

Results: The entire skeleton preparation process lasted for five (5) days and 11 hours. The steps and time recorded in the skeleton preparation of the bull were: Skinning, evisceration and de-fleshing of carcass (6 hours), carcass maceration (16 hours), bone drying (4 days), frame construction (30 minutes), bone drilling and articulation (12 hours) and varnishing (30 minutes) respectively.

Conclusion: The method has shown to be faster (less than a week) than burying method, and safer, easier and cheaper compared to previous researches which requires the use of dangerous chemicals (chlorine bleach and fumes) and expensive items (skeleton preparator’s Standard Toolkit). It is concluded that drying was the principal time-consuming component in the skeleton preparation. It utilized 73% (4 days) out of the total time used in preparing the skeleton (5 days and 11 hours), while frame construction and varnishing had the lowest duration (30) minutes each.