Organ
Specimens:
|
All of the thylacine's internal organs have been preserved as "wet" specimens
within 15 museum collections. These specimens provide researchers
with a unique opportunity to study the detailed internal anatomy of a species
that may now be lost to science. The general heading "organ specimens"
embraces not only individual organs, but organ systems, body parts, dissections,
sections, and anatomical preparations. There are 71 line entries
for "wet" specimens within the ITSD accounting for 100 organs or body parts.
The majority of organ specimens have been procured post mortem from adult
thylacines.
No discussion on organ specimens would be complete without mention of the
pioneering work of Sir Colin MacKenzie (1877-1938). MacKenzie was
a distinguished Melbourne-based surgeon who devoted much of his life to
the study of Australian fauna. In 1919 he established and financed
the Australian Institute of Anatomical Research and began building a wet
(alcohol preserved) specimen collection Australian wildlife. This
work intensified in the 1920s when the Victorian government granted him
permission to establish a field research station at Healesville that enabled
him to breed and collect native animals for use as anatomical specimens.
MacKenzie's thylacine specimens were obtained post mortem from living thylacines
he had purchased. The majority of these thylacines were housed at
the Melbourne Zoo and upon their deaths were dissected to obtain organ
specimens. In an article on the Melbourne Zoo, published in the Brisbane
newspaper "The Telegraph" on the 21st September 1927 (p.15), reference
is made to one of MacKenzie's thylacines and to its final destiny as one
of his specimens: |
.
Wet preserved
thylacine organ specimens by type and number
Source:
International Thylacine Specimen Database (2013) |
.
| Brain |
10 |
| Eyes |
2 |
| Tongue |
6 |
| Trachea |
1 |
| Tonsils |
1 |
| Palate |
1 |
| Pharynx |
1 |
| Larynx |
5 |
| Thyroid |
1 |
| Stomach |
5 |
| Intestine
(section) |
4 |
| Gastrointestinal
tract |
5 |
| Pancreas |
1 |
| Liver |
6 |
| Gall
bladder |
1 |
| Spleen |
6 |
| Rectum |
1 |
| Heart |
6 |
| Lung |
5 |
| Kidneys |
3 |
| Adrenal |
2 |
| Marsupium |
1 |
| Bladder |
1 |
| Female
reproductive system |
4 |
| Testes
in "pouch" |
2 |
| Penis |
1 |
| Male
reproductive system |
2 |
| Head
(skinned) |
1 |
| Head
(dissected) |
1 |
| Patella |
1 |
| Ossa
innominata |
1 |
| Manus |
1 |
| Torso
(sectioned) |
2 |
| Limb |
8 |
| Tail |
1 |
| . |
|
| Total |
100 |
. |
|
"Here is a marsupial Tasmanian wolf, now a very valuable animal, as it
is rapidly becoming extinct. It is the property of Professor Colin
McKenzie, director of the National Museum of Australian Zoology, and will
eventually make its home in Canberra".
In the course of his work, MacKenzie accumulated the largest single collection
of thylacine organ specimens in existence. MacKenzie generously donated
his entire collection of marsupial specimens, including those of the thylacine,
to the Australian nation. In 1924 the government responded by creating
the National Museum of Australian Zoology to house them, appointing him
as its first director. In 1931, the museum became known as the Australian
Institute of Anatomy (AIA) to coincide with the opening of its Canberra
home. The AIA closed in December 1985, and the MacKenzie collection
transferred to its current home at the National Museum of Australia in
Canberra. The collection comprises 45% of the total organ specimens
within the fifth revision of the ITSD (2013). Although MacKenzie
did not contribute directly to our knowledge of the internal anatomy of
the thylacine, his legacy was the foresight to collect and preserve all
of its internal organs for future generations of scientists to study.
.
| Left:
Heart and lungs of thylacine. Specimen NMA 1984.0010.0515.
Right: Gastrointestinal tract of thylacine. Specimen NMA 1984.0010.0021.
Courtesy: National Museum of Australia. Source: International Thylacine
Specimen Database (2013). |
The organs of a juvenile thylacine in the Hunterian Museum's collection
in Glasgow are worthy of special mention. The museum holds superb anatomical
preparations of the heart, lung, trachea, liver and gastrointestinal tract,
prepared by Professor
John Cleland in the early 1900s. It is now believed that Cleland's
thylacine was more than likely obtained from Bostock's
zoo / circus in Glasgow.
One of the most recent additions to the ITSD is a rare find within the
collection of the Cambridge University Zoological Museum. In July
2012, during a routine search through one of the store rooms, the collections
manager found a mixed box of dried organs that included the compressed
stomach of a thylacine. The organ specimens ranged in date from 1815
to the 1860s. As all other thylacine organs are preserved as "wet"
specimens, this find is unique. At the time of its preparation, the
oesophageal entrance and the duodenal exit of the stomach were tied with
threads. The stomach would then have been inflated with air for drying.
It is probable that the original intention was to use the inflated stomach
as a mould to produce an anatomical model, but this was never realised.
.
Left:
Specimen HMUG 120706. Courtesy: Hunterian Museum [Glasgow].
Right:
Dried stomach specimen [Phys Cat 390D]. Courtesy: Cambridge University
Zoological Museum.
Source:
International Thylacine Specimen Database (2013). |
|
