The specimen has been preserved in formalin and was photographed through its Perspex container.

40 year old specimen is from the Lanyon Anatomy Museum

A striking image of a pregnant pony's uterus has been selected as overall winner of the 2015 Wellcome Image Awards.

Taken by photographer Michael Frank, the photograph is of a 40 year-old specimen from the Lanyon Anatomy Museum at the RVC.

The photograph captures the preserved uterus of a New Forest pony, approximately five months into her pregnancy, with the developing foetus still attached.

It forms part of a project between Michael and Nick Short, head of the eMedia Unit at the RVC, to bring fresh perspectives to a selection of specimens at the Lanyon Anatomy Museum.

Nick says, “We are honoured to have won this prestigious award especially in the light of such stunning competition. We hope that through our photographic techniques, we have managed to capture the magic of these old anatomy specimens in a new digital format. 

Our passion has been to bring these specimens back to life and create a unique resource which will be available for students of anatomy to study and appreciate for many generations to come.”

The specimen, along with several others, has been preserved in formalin and was photographed through its Perspex container.

Winning photographer Michael Frank says: “I am delighted that this image has been chosen as the 2015 Wellcome Image Awards overall winner. This project has involved many hours working with Nick Short at the RVC. Our vision was to capture these incredible specimens which have sat for many years on the shelves of the Lanyon Anatomy Museum.

Using sophisticated photographic techniques, we were able to rejuvenate these special dissections and make them available to a whole new audience of students, academics and the public. I like to think that this digital format is a fitting tribute to all the skill of past generations of anatomists in creating these resources and the many generations of vets who have benefited from studying them.”

James Cutmore, picture editor of BBC Focus magazine and a member of the judging panel, said: “As far as standout images go, the image of the horse’s uterus with the foetus still inside was incredible and just sticks in my mind. It evokes many different emotions at once. It’s fascinating, sad, macabre, almost brutal. Yet the subject is also delicate, detailed and beautiful. The image shows us a large and magnificent creature reduced to this sad, fragile and half-formed creation, which I find very humbling.”

This is the third time that an overall winner has been chosen, and is one of 20 winning images that were selected to showcase the best in science images talent and techniques from all those acquired by the Wellcome images picture library in the past year.

Other images include a scanning electron micrography of a greenfly's eye, a clinical photograph of an elderly lady's curved spine, and an illustration of pollen grains. 

Image (C) Michael Frank/RVC