Coming to Franklin Institute, 'Body Worlds' Gives the Animal Kingdom A Deep Look
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Franklin Institute is gearing up to open a new exhibit that takes an inside look at the anatomical intricacies of various animals, on land and in the sea.
"Body Worlds: Animals Inside Out" will take visitors on an anatomical safari that provides a unique perspective on animals -- ranging from giraffes, to octopuses, to ostriches.
"You'll explore the skeletons, the muscles, and circulatory systems of numerous species," says Franklin Institute CEO Larry Dubinski, "and among many other things you'll be amazed to see the similarities between animals and humans."
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Dubinski says the 10,000-square-foot exhibit features one hundred specimens created using "plastination" -- a preservation process invented by "Body Worlds" creator Gunther Von Hagens.
Angela Whally, curator of the traveling exhibit for the German firm that created it, agrees that it highlights the similarities between animals and humans.
"We want to show what it takes to make an animal live," she says, "and we are very much the same: we all need oxygen, we all need to find and eat food, and we all need internal organs to make that happen."
Highlights include a dissected camel and bull, showing its heart five times the size of a human's.
The exhibit opens Saturday and runs through April 4, 2015. "Sesame Street Presents: The Body" also opens on Saturday, to provide children an interactive way to explore the human body.
