A Gorilla's adult head skeleton: seriated CT‐scan and reconstructions (LB4)

Abstract

One osseous head of a gorilla (tied cranium and mandible) was CT‐scanned every 1 mm in the frontal plane. The osseous head was 28,4 cm long. The adulte male specimen was probably prepared late in the 19th century. The CT‐scan was a Siemens Somatom definition AS one with 64 bars. The acquisition was performed with an helicoidal mode, then reconstructions of the cross‐sections were obtained in the horizontal (orbito‐meatal = Frankfurt’s plane) : 259 ; frontal : 364 and sagittal planes : 212. External view under several incidences : 14 were also reconstructed. The two pieces were tied by a vegetal rope allowing an aperture of 30 degrees. The teeth were tied at their collar by a thin string. Each tooth was entire and present in its place. The anatomical, topographical and architectural data were very numerous. We acknowledge Mrs Domenica Scalisi and Mr Alain Piffault.