Biofact (biology)

Biofact (biology)

In biology, a biofact is dead material of a once-living organism.

In 1943, the protozoologist Bruno M. Klein of Vienna (1891-1968) coined the term biofact in his article "Biofakt und Artefakt" in the microscopy journal "Mikrokosmos", though at that time it was not adopted by the scientific community. Klein's concept of biofact stressed the dead materials produced by living organisms as sheaths, e.g. shells.

In 1993, the word "biofact" was first used in the Education Department at the New England Aquarium, Boston, to refer to preserved items such as animal bones, skins, molts and eggs. The word is now widely used in the zoo/aquarium world.


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