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Stavanger Museum NATURE / CULTURE / CHILDHOOD
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Exhibition

To the bone

An exhibition about skeletons

A harsh characterization of a person is to describe them as “having no backbone”. In Norwegian, there is also a saying that “you have no bone in your nose”. Figuratively, these phrases describe a person who is cowardly or immoral. At the same time, it’s natural for most to have both a backbone and nasal bones.

How the skeleton looks can vary greatly among animal groups. Insects and mollusks have developed an exoskeleton. Vertebrates have developed an endoskeleton, which is common to everything from fish to great apes. The exhibition takes us into the museum's collection of skeletons, which encompass a multitude of different shapes, colors, and forms.

Skeletons have several functions. They provide body shape. They are made of robust, hard materials that can protect the whole organism or parts of it. They can heal if damaged. They can contain nutrients and stem cells. They serve as attachment points for muscles, tendons, nerves, etc.

Through evolution, animals are in a constant process of adapting to their surroundings and other animals that inhabit the same habitat. This has given rise to various uses of skeletal structures: as means of communication, armor, weapons, or decoration.

Elephant
The elephant is a mammal and, like most mammals, has an internal skeleton. Additionally, most elephants have particularly large teeths that protrude from their mouths, known as tusks. Did you know that elephants actually walk on their toes?
White-beaked dolphin
The white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) is a dolphin species found along the Norwegian coast. The hind limbs in whales have nearly disappeared, and in the white-beaked dolphin, only the pelvis remains.
Tiger skull
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest cat species on the planet. Cats are specialized predators, with all species having few teeth (compared to other animals) adapted to handle prey and consume meat.
Bird skulls
The beaks of birds are part of their skulls. The beaks are shaped very differently depending on what they eat. On the right is a skull of an albatross (Diomedea sp.), and on the left is a skull of a grey heron (Ardea cinerea).
exoskeleton
Insects, which are a highly abundant group of animals, have an exoskeleton. They share this characteristic with many other animal groups, from corals to some mammals.


Photos: Main picture (bird skeleton) and ingress picture (insects closeup) by Anne Lise Norheim. The rest by MUST.
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