X-raying a fossil skull to create a 3D model and then print it

This is part two of the fossil skull prep, in part one I removed the rock using a combination of air scribes and vinegar.
A huge thanks to Pacific Radiology, Leighton and Paul for organising the CT scan of the skull and of course to Andrew Cuff for segmenting it.
Mamlambo Rocks rockhounding channel: / @mamlamborocks
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Postal address:
Morne Mamlambo
PO Box 78018
7648
New Zealand
#fossils #newzealand #geology

[@javierhillier4252]

that hole on the back of the skull is called the foramen magnum, the brain sits in that small area in there, the area you were looking at is for jaw musculature to attach to. really cool looking, didn't expect it to be that complet

[@andrewitalasano6323]

I second this, I’ve prepared modern turtle skulls for skeletal mounts and it’s amazing the size of the jaw musculature on even small turtles.

[@javierhillier4252]

​@@andrewitalasano6323yeah those beaks have some power, don't want my hands in them lol 😂

[@shiariryu]

Thirding this!

[@KhanMann66]

Anyone know what species it is?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thanks for that info!! They must have had quite a strong bite!!

[@rafaeltoledo2310]

After discovering this wonderful channel, every time I see someone opening a fossil with a hammer, I am filled with agony.

[@tahitisweetie2]

As an X-ray tech I absolutely love this. So cool!

[@MamlamboFossils]

You have such a cool job!!

[@LiSa.N.J]

I hope you can take this to your next visit to the school so the kids can get a "hands on" look at it inside the rock...and now outside the rock. This was a really cool find.

[@MamlamboFossils]

I will have to make a copy of it for them 😀

[@sueparras6028]

Congratulations on an awesome find! I like your channel best because you take the time to etch out the fossil properly instead of just bashing concretions with a hammer and possible obliterating pieces of the fossil. ✌🇨🇦👍💯

[@PierceArner]

Being able to see the specific skeletal features that are still covered by the rock is ridiculously cool!! Thanks so much for showcasing so much of the processes with all of this

[@mikef.1000]

How cool is that! ... CT scanner and 3D printer, technology that wasn't available that long ago, now within reach of us all... and we can simply print a turtle skull just like that. Amazing!

[@MamlamboFossils]

It is so much fun!!

[@chiphazzard8173]

Amazing work by both. Also the shark 😂

[@marco.trevisan]

Priceless video! I can't wait to see the CT scans of the other fossils!

[@NewZealandRocksDownunder]

Technology is amazing, can't believe how well the 3D print came out. Great to have those resources available. You wouldn't know how many bones were in the bird bone cluster until it was prepped, knowing where the bones are will make prepping much easier.

[@MamlamboFossils]

It definitely will make it much easier! The femur is looking great, like really good!

[@leslyeschoenhuth1107]

* Fabulous to watch you Prep the Rock into an exposed skull.. Then seeing the 3D scan into the Printed piece.. Just Amazing. . . Thanks for showing us..

[@lunarmodule7802]

This has been one of my favorites of your finds. So awesome to see the 3D model. Great work and many thanks!

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thank you very much!

[@ashleigh6032]

Such a cool find! It very cool to see how the 3D print works

[@MamlamboFossils]

Glad you enjoyed itA

[@largent45]

That is so amazing! Congratulations! That will be awesome to take to show the school kids! Thanks Morne!

[@MamlamboFossils]

It definitely will be!

[@Ontario_Rockhound]

That is so cool, it's been so exciting to watch your journey with this amazing fossil specimen, from start to finish! 🙂🙂

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

[@sandmaker]

You have access to all the fun tools and the people that can run them. A beautiful piece. Thanks for sharing the amazing unveiling.

[@MamlamboFossils]

My pleasure! I am lucky that there are people willing to help me figure out more about the fossils I am finding!

[@alignwithsarah]

The bite mark is so cool!!

[@bryanclarke2553]

Great result. Can you use the 3d printed scan for diagnostic material, or are you going to use I it as a guide to further excavate the fossil to expose it?

[@MamlamboFossils]

I'm going to use it for some diagnostic work, I need to mark out the suture lines

[@leonacrowley164]

That's awesome

[@valiantwarrior4517]

That is very cool to see. It really made the bite mark stand out. The convex side of shark teeth face inward, so that would make sense that a tooth just caught the side of the turtle’s head. Thank you, sir!

[@MamlamboFossils]

It does make sense!!

[@valiantwarrior4517]

@@MamlamboFossils Fossils are awesome, but when they carry evidence of the events that led to that animal’s death or where it was found…that is a whole other level of wonder to me.

This was very much worth the wait, simply amazing results. Cingrats!

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thank you very much!

[@NillWill]

That final x ray pic would make a cool t shirt

[@MamlamboFossils]

I will need to look at that!

[@jamesbarisitz4794]

Wine at Christmas for your radiologist. Start finding more things to get done and put the files in the merch store for people to 3D print! Modern magic. 👍 😃

[@alexandermelchers1497]

Level up is definitely the right word for it! Wow! What awesome use of technology to gain additional insights of an extraordinary find! 👏

[@KarenUntz]

Amazing work! Thanks for sharing! 😊

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@stevensawyer2489]

Awesome 😎 find. Thanks for the share.

[@MamlamboFossils]

My pleasure!

[@liamcarey335]

What I loved about this is when it went all NCIS and we were looking for the killer. Evidence is stacking up against that shark! Great work as always Morne.

[@MamlamboFossils]

Now we have to go find the shark responsible!

[@claudesarich6314]

That was awesome, yes you have gone up another level. The 3D mould makes it even more awesome, well done congratulations.

[@skp8738]

Pretty amazing to watch your journey with the turtle!

[@MamlamboFossils]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@robingw2615]

That’s really amazing 😲! Crazy how much detail you can see from a scan !

[@beach7694]

Very cool! An amazing piece, thank you for sharing!

[@guitarhiker4449]

Wow amazing find!! I think the bite mark was cool too. Super cool fossil!! Lucky guy!🐢💨

[@josephcormier5974]

This turtle just keeps giving this is so cool thank you for sharing this six stars brother

[@MamlamboFossils]

My pleasure Joseph!!

[@D989501L]

Great show as usual, It's nice to have someone explain and show the process from start to finish, all you have to do now is go and find the lower jaw bone 😁. When you find out can you let us know the rough dimensions of the intact animal if you ever find out. Regards Richard 🇬🇧

[@MamlamboFossils]

I'll do that!

[@D989501L]

@@MamlamboFossils Thank you

[@TheOldladyB]

This is absolutely amazing. The 3D print will be amazing.

[@danlawver]

The holes that you interpret as being for the brain are actually where the jaw adducting (closing) muscles are located. Awesome specimen!

[@MamlamboFossils]

You're right, I will need to make a correction video!!

[@Irles60]

Such cool fossil and such interesting videos you have posted. Thanks for sharing! Would you be cleaning more of your skull fossil now that you know there is more bone hidden in the rock?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thanks so much! I'm going to be working on it to expose the palate (bottom of the fossil at the moment) so I can see the structure to see if it's more like a loggerhead or more like a Kemp's turtle

[@gregjones2217]

Amazing!! Thank you for sharing.

[@MamlamboFossils]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@blackoakmushrooms]

DUDE!!!! I've been wanting to do this with my own skull for 25 years. sooooooooo good.

[@MamlamboFossils]

You should do it!

[@blackoakmushrooms]

@@MamlamboFossils I'm totally doing it now. My brother's an imaging specialist. you just got me all kinds of back on it. thanks buddy

[@MamlamboFossils]

@@blackoakmushrooms Nice! I would love to see it if you get it done!

[@KrisPSouls9258]

The turtle skull really was a awesome find even without all the body.

[@MamlamboFossils]

It's one of my favourite!

[@liliefleurfontaine5771]

​@@MamlamboFossilsAh d'accord. C'est le crâne d'une tortue. C'est mon animal préféré. J'ai des tortues aquatiques chez moi âgées de plus de trente ans. Je pourrais mourir avant elles car si elles sont bien occupées, elles peuvent vivre beaucoup plus longtemps en captivité que dans la nature... C'est vrai qu'il vaut mieux que les animaux soient dans leur environnement mais mes tortues ont toujours vécu en captivité et si on voulait les relâcher, elles mourraient, incapables de chercher à manger toutes seules...

[@MamlamboFossils]

@@liliefleurfontaine5771 that sounds amazing! I understand what you mean about animals being raised in captivity - it sounds like you really appreciate them!

[@Hydrart]

Great discovery and study. It must be a very rewarding experience.

[@MamlamboFossils]

Yes it was!!

[@cliff2891]

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing this with us 👌

[@MamlamboFossils]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@BayAreaMotorcycleCommuting]

This is SO COOL

[@MamlamboFossils]

Amazing what you can do with these CT scanners!

[@idgunjid]

Absolutely amazing! You have done incredible work. It must be so satisfying to have the 3-D model. Was that a lower jaw in the CT scan?

[@MamlamboFossils]

No, it was only a bit of rock left over

[@BenjaminKoops]

So great! Love it

[@garnettoll9317]

That is an amazing finish!

[@darkwood777]

Simply amazing!

[@randalljones4370]

I believe the sea turtle brain is quite small and centrally located. (I'm not a herpetologist..... I am a dentist, so I see lots of skull xrays) Anyway, from the online anatomy images I see, I think there's something called a 'salt glad' that is housed in the large spaces that are lateral to the brain-space... that and the muscles which close that large mandible must be in there as well, since there appears to be a reall large of major muscle-attachment points on the external/lateral surfaces. Cool stuff.

[@MamlamboFossils]

That does make sense, if the brain had filled up those spaces it would have been quite a large brain for an animal that size. Thanks for the info!

[@ssrattus]

Fascinating!

[@-AT-WALKER]

WOW! The work hours... Have you shared the file with the 3D printing community? Been a sub of yours for a month or so now, also a 3D printing enthusiast and want to acknowledge the restraint it would've taken (me) to let a print run that long. Hopefully Joel The 3D printing Nerd sees this and reaches out for a collab. Everything about this is amazing, thanks for sharing your find, lengthy reveal from a stone to a scan and finally that insane print time. Good job!

[@michellericard4850]

Wow!!! The bottom jaw looks like it's all there 😮

[@stinkyflour5924]

This is so cool!! Technology is incredible

[@PJeBenn]

Really cool, in the ct scan file it almost looked like you had some of the bottom jaw. 3D prints are an amazing tool for fossils. Now that you can see what is under the rock do you think it would be worth prepping the bottom of the turtle skull?

[@MamlamboFossils]

It did look like the bottom jaw but was actually just some rock. I don't think I will be prepping it further. Maybe clean up some more rock 😀

[@KompletterGeist]

Thats amazing! Are you going to take out the rock of the fossil to get closer to the 3D print?

[@MamlamboFossils]

I need to prep the bottom a bit to get a closer look at the palate to see if two of the bones are touching, that will help with telling where it sits in the turtle family tree

[@sandraanderson217]

That is amazing!

[@thedelaylama1379]

Perfect!!!

[@gwynnfarrell1856]

So incredibly cool!

[@Windhover21]

This was fantastic! I loved the x-ray and the recreation. Is the lower jaw in there too? At 3:31on the video I think I can see it unless that's reflection off of the curved rock matrix. If it is there is there enough data to print it too?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Unfortunately, the lower jaw isn't there - it's the rock as you said.

[@Windhover21]

@@MamlamboFossils Dang! I wasn't hopeful since lower jaws usually part company with the skull., but the preservation here was so extraordinary I thought it might be possible.

[@bufaresq8]

Amazing work 👍🏼

[@0rderofTheWhiteLotus]

I've just published a paper studying the insides of some modern day corals here in Thailand using micro-CT, and i've been dying to see how the technology would fit with some of your fossils, especially the turtle. This is great! Which softare did you use for seperating the bone from the rock, and the final visualisation?

[@MamlamboFossils]

I use 3D Slicer on my home PC and the university has Mimics which looks really powerful. I'm unsure what Andrew used to segment the final model. That is so cool that you could use it to look inside corals, if you have time, can you send me a copy of the paper please? [e-mail]. I'd love to check it out!

[@0rderofTheWhiteLotus]

@@MamlamboFossils Certainly! Paper incoming. I used 3D Slicer too, and was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Amira/Avizo that helped me play around a bit with transparency for figure visualisation. I'd be fascinated if you find any corals in your concretions, though I know there are some challenges.

[@dinoskool]

@@MamlamboFossils it was Avizo for my segmentation, but any of the segmenting software would be great for it.

[@geobucky]

This is absolutely fantastic. What an amazing find and amazing work from everyone to product such a detailed 3D print at the end. Which Ender 3 are you using to 3D print?

[@MamlamboFossils]

It's the Ender 3 V2 Neo, thinking of getting one of those Bambus

[@alexandrebassani9126]

My god... this ia amazing! I wish to go for a fossil hunt here on Brazil, however, I do not know where I can find shells and crabs from over here... That being said, one day it will happen, and it will be one of the greatest joys of my life!

[@MamlamboFossils]

I hope you find something awesome! Just check your local laws

[@jamesblack1602]

That’s truly amazing

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

That software you're using was developed by an old friend. We first used it in Neurosurgery, to give us stereotaxic models of the skull and brain. For use in a bunch of operations.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

What used to take a very specialist PC, and video cards, you can do on your desktop! There was about £60,000 of Grant money sunk in the thing. Last time I dropped in to say hi, it was gathering dust at the back of the equipment cupboard. I told my neurosurgeon friend about it. He got it donated to The Science Museum in London. This was in the mid nineties, we had these three young men to fettle it.

[@deniseham2839]

Just seen on BBC website about new tiny penguin species found, called Wilson's little penguin. I hope that one of your recent 'chunks' has one. 😊

[@goontheracoon]

my man just found dreamworks toothless skull.

[@viridiangreen8259]

Incredible 💛

[@erickieselbach7049]

So Cool!

[@leeeeni]

Do you have the lower jaw? It seems to be in the stone as well? You could extract it from the file and print it to have a whole printed skull.

[@MamlamboFossils]

Unfortunately the lower jaw is missing

[@peter990099]

are you going to go into more depth with the bird bone block, I'm intrigued by how much bone is in that block looking at the preliminary x-ray. also do you have any idea what it is from what you have uncovered? also that skull is awesome, it came out so well in the 3D print out.

[@MamlamboFossils]

I think it's a penguin of some sort, I know, another one!!

[@HardyTempestsWildCampsandWalks]

That is amazing!! I see in the scans that a lot of the lower jaw remains. Any plans on revealing it?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Unfortunately, that's all rock - none of the lower jaw remains

[@TylerDollarhide]

Apparently the center hole (viewed from the back) is actually where the brain would sit, as turtles have quite narrow brains. I'm not quite sure what all organs would be in the two large holes (other than the salt glans).

[@MamlamboFossils]

You're right! And apparently big jaw muscles!

[@VoicyZA]

1:52 - Ooh I also went for a CT brain scan...luckily it came back negative.

[@MamlamboFossils]

🤣

[@MrLarryQ]

Great stuff. Any idea from the MRI how old the fossil is??

[@johnlester2716]

Ever thought of 3D printing the rest of the legs on your fossil crabs?Seen this done in Oz and they are stunning

[@MamlamboFossils]

That's a good idea! I should look into doing that!

[@katelynwoodworth9989]

Fantastic skull! I wonder if the two cavities were for muscle, and the brain was a small nugget near the spinal chord hole. Hmmmm...

[@MamlamboFossils]

Yes, you're right! I got that completely wrong!

[@katelynwoodworth9989]

@@MamlamboFossils All good! We learn something new every day =)

[@tinusoosthuizen6672]

That is so awsome

[@amandathurston2720]

Sea turtles are my favorite 😍 congratulations!

[@MamlamboFossils]

Thank you!!

[@AZGeek520]

Awesome.

[@DeusExNihilo]

I'm sure you get asked this a lot, but does the stone chip away easier from different types of fossils?

[@MamlamboFossils]

I found crabs are easier than bone where the honeycombing has been exposed as the rock gets into the pores and is very sticky

[@tonycole9620]

does the air scribe cause much damage to the bone?

[@jaynehorn151]

Outstanding find and modelling. Any idea of species?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Maybe related to the loggerhead

[@FlowRida-hf6hp]

Greetings. Do you have a merch store for kiwis / trademe store?

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

The hospital I trained in had the second prototype CT Scanner from EMI/Thorn. All the research was done on the profits of The Beatles back catalogue. So all of you who bought Beatles stuff before the early seventies are owed a modicum of thanks. 😉

[@lynnscott8286]

Are the tests expensive? You do great work

[@MamlamboFossils]

It was organized by the museum and I think Pacific Radiology funded it.

[@lynnscott8286]

@@MamlamboFossils I was just curious if it was reasonable to have items checked out

[@EricStorms]

That’s awesome? Will you make the file available (for a donation 😊) for others to be able to print a copy?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Email me and I will send you the STL file 😀[e-mail]

[@Thaumazo]

What turtle species is this? Incredible work!

[@MamlamboFossils]

Maybe related to the loggerhead, unsure still

[@Logab13]

C’est tellement dingue que c’est à peine croyable 😅 j’hallucine

[@elennapointer701]

It's an amazing 3D print, but I question the shark-bite hypothesis. it suggests only one single tooth penetrated. So does this mean there are a lot of other bite marks on the skull in line with the one that penetrated - i.e did the shark break all its other teeth on the skull while a single one got through? What else swam in the seas with this turtle that could have done this?

[@ccccarriemchardy9216]

I hope someone does their thesis on this turtle, it would be very interesting to read.

[@MamlamboFossils]

I might try and write it up! With the help of some professionals of course!

[@ccccarriemchardy9216]

@@MamlamboFossils Awesome!

[@Atomcrusher]

Cool

[@michaelhk3459]

Don't know if already mentioned but, since you have the CT scan, you should be able to 3D print an internal mold of the braincase.

[@MamlamboFossils]

That's true! I'll have to look into that!

[@michaelhk3459]

@@MamlamboFossils it may look like a small lumpy peanut but you can cross-off "3D print of fossil sea turtle braincase' from your bucket list.

[@missfittkid4729]

Am I the only one watching because it’s oddly satisfying 😂

[@jannacoogle6582]

I'm really curious a bout that puncture mark😊

[@MamlamboFossils]

It's pretty cool!

[@aramaxes4802]

Any idea what type of animal this was?

[@DerrickAD]

Looks like you still have the lower jaw in there. Any plan to prep it out?

[@MamlamboFossils]

Unfortunately, the lower jaw isn't in there - it was some of the rock that was still showing up

[@1ntwndrboy198]

I didn't find what part of the world this was discovered. I am assuming where you live?

[@1ntwndrboy198]

Locally here,we have a ancient sea turtle that the shell is 17.5 feet round 😮

[@liliefleurfontaine5771]

❤Superbe fossile. De quel animal s'agit il ? Merci de me répondre.

[@tazzygeoff621]

Love your work, but can you get rid if that annoying background music please, I have to mute it and watch it with subtitles to keep it bearable. cheers.

[@GamersDogma]

What creature was it?

[@MamlamboFossils]

A sea turtle, similar to a loggerhead