When a law enforcement agency receives a call to investigate skeletal remains, any number of specialists might answer that call, including forensic anthropologists, medical examiners, coroners, crime scene investigators, or death investigators. Although most experienced forensic anthropologists can distinguish human bones from animal bones with relative ease, assigning non-human bones to a particular species can be a bit trickier if the investigator does not have extensive zoological training. National Institute of Justice grantee Dr. Heather Garvin’s group from Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center developed a free online database, OsteoID. They compiled simple measurements and visual comparisons so that a person could easily identify the species of a bone by using this tool. The group, funded by a grant from NIJ, also created a decision tree for determining species as well as accuracy estimates for using their database to distinguish human from non-human bones
Downloads
Similar Publications
- “I’m a security professional, a counselor, a leader, and sometimes a father figure”: Transformative social emotional learning through the eyes of school security professionals
- A Prospective Examination of Sexual Orientation and Suicidal and Nonsuicidal Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Among a Diverse Sample of At-Risk Young Adult Women
- Developing Evaluation Approaches for an Anti-Human Trafficking Housing Program