Coyote12041209

This skull has been placed online as a demonstration. The eventual goal is to post several dozen skulls from diverse locations to permit student examination of geographic variation in coyotes. At this point we'd welcome input and suggestions on how best to do this. Our plan is to set this up such that students can measure the skulls directly from the photograph using a computer mouse. It is fairly simple to calibrate a measurement taken from a photo so long as there is a ruler included in the photo.

Some tech details
We prop the ruler such that it is at mid elevation of the specimen. Then we use a high camera angle and zoom to minimize distortion. The skull is placed on black fabric covering modeling clay, foil, and cardboard to keep it parallel to the photographic plane.