The Boneyard Project

What are the ethics surrounding owning and/or supporting organizations that use animals and animal products?

How do the anatomy, physiology, and skeletal structures of small mammals and reptiles compare and contrast to the human body?

In The Boneyard Project students learn about anatomy and physiology of small mammals and humans while considering ethical questions about utilizing animal products.In The Boneyard Project students explore the various perspectives surrounding the animal and pet industries. We begin by getting to know our classroom animals and unveiling who has what kind of pets at HTHCV. As we are gathering these data, we will also be discovering the anatomy and physiology of mammals and reptiles through in-class dissections. During this process we will be preparing these organisms for our flesh eating beetles and field experiments by removing all organs. The beetles and wild insects will do what they do best – decompose deceased animal remains leaving behind only a bit of cartilage and bones. As this occurs, you will prepare lab drawings and photo representations of the dissections for presentation. Once the fleshy portions of the animals have decomposed, students will recover the remains and reconstruct the skeletons for display at Halloween and Dia de los Muertos exhibitions–labeling key features, major bones, and functions of each skeleton.