Aside from a large number of cats, birds, and colorful insects, the island Kia Ora doesn’t have much in the way of wildlife. But during one of my daily exercise walks around the island, I came upon a strange bone poking out of the ground. To my surprise, when I picked it up, it was flexible and floppy. With a little effort, I could even tie it in a knot. I ran quickly back to the laboratory to conduct tests on it. I learned that the bone was several thousand years old, and it had belonged to a mammal about the size of a skunk. I surmised that the animal must have been a rubbery, springy animal that could bounce high enough to knock coconuts out of trees. Since I had discovered the fossil, I was entitled to give it a name. I called it a “sneep,” and placed the bone in a special display case in the small museum housed in the Zoober building. The following experiment lets you make a simulated Sneep Bone out of familiar ingredients.
Materials
1 cooked chicken drumstick or wishbone
Tools
Cloth
Drinking glass
1 Eat the meat off the drumstick or wishbone, leaving only the bone. Clean the bone with a cloth and warm water.
2 Put the bone in the glass and pour in enough vinegar to cover the bone.
3 Set the glass where it won’t be disturbed.
4 After one week, replace the old vinegar with fresh vinegar.
5 After one more week, take the bone out and rinse it with water. Try twisting it and bending it. Can you tie it into a knot?
HOW IT WORKS: The vinegar dissolves the calcium in the bone, leaving the flexible cartilage behind.
