The “Bear” Necessities: Differentiating animal from human skeletal remains in forensic contexts

During death investigations involving skeletonized remains, one of the first questions posed to forensic anthropologists is, “are these remains human?” In this seminar, Suyoko Tsukamoto will briefly review the methods anthropologists use to differentiate animal from human bone with a focus on histologic/microscopic methods. Microstructural features of bone and their patterns will be discussed. Past case examples will also be available for guests to examine.