Carly Pate, Morgan Giles, and Kelsey Clarke breaking down rib cage & vertebrae, May 11, 2015. Photo by M. Moss
Thanks to Zooarchaeology student Molly Shelton and her generous sheep-ranching friends, we have a new addition to the North Pacific Comparative Collection. A six-year-old male Puma concolor had recently taken one too many sheep and was donated to the UO Department of Anthropology. The remarkably enthusiastic Primate Osteology Lab Students have risen to the challenge to process the specimen. Despite the complaints of an “unfortunate odor” in Condon Hall (thank you, Colin, for that euphemism!), the students are doing a fantastic job and we hope the cougar is ready for display on graduation day! A special thanks to Professor Frances White and graduate student Andrea Eller for providing the resources and training the students to accomplish this critical (but stomach-wrenching) work. Thanks also to John Steele whose brilliant “carcass packaging” and strong back facilitated transport (I will spare you more details.)