Raccoon Skull 2017 by DocCopemys

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

A digital model of a raccoon skull from my personal collection I created using photogrammetry. I filled most of the major foramina with clay before photographing the skull. I did this to make modelling a bit easier and make it a little easier to 3D print. I left the infraorbital foramina open, but they closed up a bit when I built the model. On the right side the nerve, artery, and vein passed together through a single opening. It is still open in the model, although a bit constricted relative to the actual skull. On the left side the nerve, artery, and vein each had their own foramen. These foramina have closed in the model but are still visible as clearly discernable depressions. For the technically inclined, this provides a good example of why it can be dangerous to code the presence of more than one infraorbital foramen on a side as a character in phylogenetic analyses. For those less technically inclined, it’s super cool.
To print this skull, I’d cut each element into several pieces, in orientations designed to minimize the amount of necessary support. I’m presenting them as they are so that you will have the greatest amount of freedom using them in ways that fit your needs.