Incredible X-Ray Photos Reveal Animals as You've Never Seen Them Before

An incredible series of X-ray images reveals animals as you've never seen them before.

Arie van 't Riet, based in the Netherlands, worked as a medical physicist and was involved in teaching radiation safety in hospital, where students would practice X-raying flowers.

One day in 2007, the opportunity to acquire an X-ray machine arose.

Riet told Newsweek: "There was no room anymore for the dermatologist's old X-ray machine. It would be destroyed. Then I was allowed to take it."

X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, professor at Wuerzburg University in Germany, Iowa State University explains.

"One of Roentgen's first experiments late in 1895 was a film of the hand of his wife, Bertha," the university said.

The discovery was described as a "scientific bombshell," and as advancements were gradually made, industrial radiography came to flourish during WWII.

Further progress in technology has allowed images to be captured digitally, and therefore with higher quality. Meanwhile, the equipment has become smaller and lighter.

But Riet still uses an analog technique, on Silver Gelatine X-ray negatives, and develops his film in a dark room with chemicals.

Building on his previous experience, Riet first began X-raying flora but after a few years he began adding animals.

"And since that time, I have been taking X-rays of complete nature scenes with flowers, plants, animals and other nature objects," he said.

He's captured a variety of creatures from snakes to cats, but confirmed his subjects are dead before he X-rays them.

Riet explained: "In my opinion it's not justified to expose living animals to the risk of X-rays for my purpose.

"I find traffic victims along the roadside (mammals, birds, amphibians). A friend breeds reptiles. In case one dies, I can have him. Fishes I buy on the market. Insects I buy in specialized shops.

"It all starts with the availability of an animal. After I found, got or bought an animal I start collecting attributes (plants, flowers etc etc.).

"Next I build the biorama. Then I make some test X-rays to find out the optimal X-ray technique (dose and energy). I estimate that the whole procedure from getting the animal to the partly colored X-ray takes about two full days."

Frogs are his favorite animal to work with he said, as they're easily recognizable. "Although most people never saw him like this (in x-ray) before, they immediately recognize the X-ray as a frog. The functionality to jump is clearly visible. Long legs, big feet."

Even though his subjects are deceased, he always takes precautions when handling them.

"I don't know if the dead animal I found has a disease. And the Gabon viper, of course, has poisonous glands. When I unfold the fangs I am careful," he said.

Now his bioramas provide an eerily beautiful snapshot into an unseen aspect of the natural world.

"I want to underline that my X-ray images are not composed from different layers. It is not a composition of different X-rays. No stacked images. Not assembled.

"The complete setup of the natural scene (biorama) with animals and flowers is built and X-rayed in one session as a whole," he said, adding all his work takes place in a studio.

Now retired, he has been granted a license to X-ray nature scenes for his "expensive hobby," which has been featured in various books and museums, including the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam.

While he also shares his work to his Instagram page, @arievantriet, and sells prints on his website, www.xrayimagesofnature.nl.

Ideally he admitted he'd like to X-ray more birds, adding: "I would be happy with meadow birds such as the lapwing, the black-tailed godwit, the curlew, etc.

"And beach birds such as waders. I do not find these birds as traffic victims along the highway. And all kinds of animals that die in the zoo and that don't live in the Netherlands."