Curator in Hokkaido succeeds in creating 3D whale skeleton from photos

OSAKA - A museum curator in Hokkaido has succeeded in reconstructing a complete whale skeleton as a three-dimensional image by integrating photographs taken during dissection, hoping the technique will reveal the correct positioning of the bones that has long been difficult to determine.

Tatsuya Shinmura of the Ashoro Museum of Paleontology published an article in the journal Marine Mammal Science in June describing his study using 3D photographic documentation to reconstruct the skeletal configuration of a beaked whale. The female whale was found stranded in Shinhidaka, also on Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, in December.