Why River Otters Have Bones… In Their Hearts

Most mammals can develop bones in their hearts. For humans, it's usually a bad thing, but for river otters, it could be a useful adaptation.

Hosted by: Stefan Chin

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Sources:

Cardiac skeleton overview
https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/rg.2017170004

Bones in the heart skeleton of the otter (2000)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1468091/pdf/joa_1963_0485.pdf
(2001)
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heike_Weber4/publication/228704564_Hearts_and_Bones-The_Heart_Skeleton_of_the_Otter_Lutra_lutra/links/5655942b08ae1ef929772738/Hearts-and-Bones-The-Heart-Skeleton-of-the-Otter-Lutra-lutra.pdf

Healthy heart: lessons from nature’s elite athletes
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physiol.00017.2015

AHOOO Structures
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12597

Osteogenesis and endochondral ossification
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10056/

Chimps develop os cordis
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66345-7


Images:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray495.png