Young Chimpanzee Cranium and Mandible

Young chimpanzee cranium and mandible remixed from the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum at the University of Dundee. From their Sketchfab post:

“Pan sp. - Chimpanzee. DUNUC 2404 & 2404/1. Length=15cm. Acquired by D’Arcy Thompson from William Cross of Liverpool in 1886. Writing to his grandfather, D’Arcy noted: “I yesterday received a chimpanzee, one of the most manlike of apes; it is the rarest and most valuable specimen I have yet had… One of the young Doctors came and helped me to remove its brain at 11 o’clock at night. It was in beautiful condition. I shall be able to make a whole series of preparations besides cleaning the skeleton and stuffing the skin.” The stuffed skin and the brain are also still in the museum.Pan sp. - Chimpanzee. DUNUC 2404 & 2404/1. Length=15cm. Acquired by D’Arcy Thompson from William Cross of Liverpool in 1886. Writing to his grandfather, D’Arcy noted: “I yesterday received a chimpanzee, one of the most manlike of apes; it is the rarest and most valuable specimen I have yet had… One of the young Doctors came and helped me to remove its brain at 11 o’clock at night. It was in beautiful condition. I shall be able to make a whole series of preparations besides cleaning the skeleton and stuffing the skin.” The stuffed skin and the brain are also still in the museum.”

I solidified each part to make them easier to 3D print. There is some damage and missing thin areas (orbits, maxilla) that I chose to leave in place. The cranium is still “solid” and printable--just be careful removing supports from these areas. 

I printed this with 0.12 mm layers on the Bambu a1 mini with Sunlu matte PLA in bone white. My support settings are tree, 2mm tip diameter, 0.12mm Top Z Distance, Top Interface Spacing = 0 (this makes a solid top surface which is easier to remove), Top Interface Layers = 2. You will still need to do a little cleanup on the occipital, but a kitchen torch should be enough to smooth it out.

High detail is still visible, including sutures and teeth--the sutures are a little subtle but still visible. This would be a great model to add to your osteology collections if you teach primatology, zoology, or paleoanthropology. Since this is a juvenile, I am working on a model that exposes the unerupted dentition--stay tuned!

Bambu 3mf on Makerworld.