Researchers from Duke University have created a digital database of 3D scans of deceased animals. The online database, Morphosource, has been developed with the aim of providing an accessible research tool.
创作者，杜克大学进化形态学和古生物学的Boyer Lab现已与Duke Lemur Center合作，收集了许多濒临灭绝的狐猴物种的3D图像。
The Boyer Lab focuses its research on primate species with the intention of understanding the origins of human evolution. Partnering with the Duke Lemur Center means the team can have access to a vast number of deceased lemur species.
“虚拟博物馆”
There are many species of animals in the database, with a particular emphasis on primates and endangered species. Endangered species are important to the team as they provide critical information on a, quite literally, dying breed. The Morphosource database has been created by Doug Boyer and his lab team to enable researchers from around the world to have access to a large resource of data with Boyer comparing the database to “a virtual museum,”自从，
Anything you can catalog in a natural history museum you can catalog a 3D version of.
This is an idea that the扫描世界项目正在通过扫描历史文物和creating digital 3D printable files. The two projects have parallels in they both intend to increase accessibility and support preservation, and further the pursuit of knowledge.
Duke Lemur Center, founded in 1966, has been home to more than 4,000 endangered primates in its history. In that time, it has preserved more than 400 cadavers for research purposes making it a good choice for the Boyer lab.
数字保存
Despite the large catalogue kept by the center, there are only so many times an animal cadaver can be evaluated before it is damaged and no longer useful. This is another motivating factor for Morphosource. Justin Gladman, a Duke R&D engineer explains,
There aren’t that many available. If one researcher dissects and destroys one, the next researcher can’t do anything with it.
Addressing this, the team uses CT scanners to immortalise the animals in 3D form. Working on the project with Boyer, recent graduate Darbi Griffith今天向杜克大学解释那种形态的是：“最大的3-D狐猴扫描系列。”该团队还解释说，这些模型可以通过可从morphosource下载的.stl文件打印3D。
狐猴的重要性
博耶解释了狐猴对资源库的重要性，
从很多方面来说，狐猴是灵长类动物进化的开始。这意味着拥有良好的骨骼样本，它们的变化方式以及解剖学的独特方式对于理解这些化石非常重要。因此，我们确实关注的许多作品都关注这些狐猴的光波如何由它们的骨骼反映。
It is hoped that creating this catalog will preserve endangered species allowing them to be posthumously investigated. 3D printing and scanning has been used before to gain insight into the animal kingdom, with美国的研究人员创建了复制狗的鼻子来评估是什么使他们的嗅觉.
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特色图像显示了濒临灭绝的蓝眼睛的黑色狐猴。通过杜克狐猴中心的照片。
