The Wesleyan Osteology Collection is a teaching collection of vertebrate skeletal artifacts, maintained by the Biology Program at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. More than 80% of the taxonomic diversity of this collection has been added within the past 10 years.
The collection currently has 84 vertebrate species represented by complete, articulated,
and mounted skeletons, an additional 9 species represented by complete
skeletons awaiting articulation, and an additional 42 species represented
by skulls, partial skeletons, fossil skeletons or fossil casts. The mammalian collection has representatives from
48
families in 18 orders.
Several of the recent full skeletal additions to the collection were articulated and mounted by students as individual projects or as part of the BIO270 Vertebrate Zoology course. The Build-a-Critter website has a photo gallery of the results of this project.
Contributing to the CollectionIf you have a skeleton, partial skeleton, or vertebrate fossil which you would like to donate to the Wesleyan Osteology Collection, please contact Dr. Rhoades at brhoades@wesleyancollege.edu. Most specimens which increase the diversity and educational value of the collection will be gratefully accepted.*
* We cannot, however, accept any specimens collected, transported, or traded in violation of federal statues or international agreements and treaties, including the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Marine Mammals Protection Act, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). We also will not accept any parts of any animals listed as threatened or endangered under CITES Appendices I, II, or III or the IUCN Red List, without a clear provenance establishing an ecologically non-disruptive source, e.g. a captive-bred or legacy specimen from an AZA or educational institution.