Compare humans and primates online

The eSkeletons Project, developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin,

offers a unique set of digitized versions of skeletons in 2-D and 3-D in full color, animations, and much supplemental information

Using the applications, you can compare skeletons of different species, view bones in 3-D movies, and measure and view anatomical features, to name a few of its features.

Mouse Lemur skeleton with color coding for skull, vertebrae and thorax, upper limb and hand, lower limb and foot.

Note that the site works well in Internet Explorer, but not in Firefox. In addition, you will have to download some plug-ins, such as Quicktime, if you do not have them already. This tidbit and more information on using the many features of this site are readily available in the link for First-Time Users, and the Help link.

eSkeletons offers a bone viewer for your handheld that I tested on my Treo. It works well and the images are clear. The added features, such as the measurement tool, are not available, but I still found it really cool.

In addition to the skeletons, the site offers teaching resources, primarily K-12, a resources pages, and FAQ about bones.

This site is currently the showcase site from MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Teaching Online), Biology section.