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1
Taxidermy
• GOOD– For display
• BAD– Labour-intensive to
maintain collection
– Difficult to assessmorphology due tointensive preparation
– Difficult to store
2
“Study Skin”
• GOOD– External features
– Complete animal
– May be possible toextract shortsequences of DNAfrom skin (feet)
– Easy to prepare in thefield (if you’re anexpert)
• BAD– NO internal anatomy
– Diagnostic, butmissing features forfurther study
– Difficult to prepare ifyou’re not an expert!
Skelton
• GOOD– Detailed preservation
– Osteologicalcharacters, importantfor phylogenetics
– Complete anatomy
• BAD– Species-level
diagnosis sometimeslost
– No external features
– May be impossible todetermine gender
– Time-consuming toprepare (cleaningbones)
Alcohol
• GOOD– Detailed preservation– Anatomical important
for phylogenetics– Complete anatomy– The only (good) way
for DNA– Relatively easy to
prepare
• BAD– Labour-intensive to
maintain collection
– More difficult tohandle to assessexternal characters
– Chemical bleaching
3
Examples: Preservation
Formalin vs. Alcohol
• Ethyl alcohol (EtOH)– Inexpensive and widely available– Relatively easy to work with– Unsurpassed DNA preservation
• Formalin– Carcinogenic– Unpleasant– Unsurpassed morphological preservation
Alcohol vs. Alcohol
• IMS - most specimens in NMINH– industrial methylated spirit– “Denatured” alcohol
(EtOH + methyl alcohol)
• EtOH– Pure alcohol– Heavily taxed!!
• EtOH has superior DNA preservation, but sequence datais more closely linked to concentration
4
Preservation - decisions
• Display / Study
• DRY specimens
– osteology
– shell
– sponges & corals
– skins
• WET specimens
– Alcohol
– Formalin
Formalin + Alcohol
• history
• invasive species
• medical research
• systematics
• taxonomy
• toxicology
• vouchers
• anatomy
• education
• endangered species
Dry specimens / Study Skins
• history
• systematics
• taxonomy
• vouchers
• artistic models
• education
• endangered species
5
DRY specimens
– osteology
– skins
– shell
– sponges & corals
– Separate or Together?
– Field Gear:
• bottles, chemicals OR
• knives, cotton, thread,
needles, corn meal /
sawdust AND
• someplace dry
Skeleton OR
Study Skin
WET specimens
– Isopropyl Alcohol 70%
– Ethyl Alcohol 70%
– Ethyl Alcohol 95%
– Formalin
– general use
– molecular
preservation (DNA /
protein analysis)
– morphology
(histology, organ
anatomy, colour)
• Cnidaria; Reptilia
6
Vital Statistics
• How Many? - 20,00020,000
• Oldest (known) - 18101810
• Youngest - 20032003
•• One of EuropeOne of Europe’’s largest collectionss largest collections
Vital Statistics
• How Many? - 20,00020,000– Taxidermy : 3,000
– Study skins : 15,000
– Wet specimens : 200
– Skeletons : 1,800
7
• 1870s - First major
acquisitions
• 1890 - Inventory list
published by A.G. More
• ca. 1910 - Organised
according to G.B. Sharpe
History of the BirdCollections
8
Birds around the worldBirds around the world
Sephanoides fernandensisSephanoides fernandensis
Juan Fernandez Juan Fernandez FirecrownFirecrown
9
Modern applications
• Past and present biodiversity
• New techniques on old specimens - DNAsequencing
•• Our only access to endangered and extinctOur only access to endangered and extinctspeciesspecies
Museums Then and Now...
• Museums are organised collections of objects
• Objects alone do not make a museum
• Collections alone do not make a museum
• Buildings alone do not make a museum
10
Cabinet of Curiosties 1599
Ferrante Imperato’s museum, Naples
Cabinet of Curiosities 1655
Olaus Worm’s museum, Leiden
Systematic Collecting
• World Travel
• 19th Century Growth
• Increasing focus
• Taxonomic layout
• Access for scientists
• Public Access
11
Services to Specialists
• Identification
• Taxonomy
• Records
• Publications
• Analysis
• Forensic support
Flour beetles
Ladybird controlling aphid infestation
Services to Public
• Scientific Authority
• Identify objects
• Supply facts
• Explain theories
• Correct errors
Exhibitions - Traditional
Diorama
Model
12
Exhibitions - Modern Methods
• Audience Research
• Communication Plan
• Select Objects
• Interpretation– Engage Visitor
– Make connections
– Interactive Learning
Exhibitions - Reconstructions
Exhibitions - Challenges
Plants
Landscape
13
Exhibitions - Sensitive IssuesHuman evolution
History
Touring Exhibitions
Earliest Reptile
Health
Education
Activity Centre
Handling Collection
14
Outreach - Field Trips
Publicity
The Hazards of Public Life
• Everything on displayis also part of thecollection
• Exhibition carriesmore risks forcollections
• All hazards apply tocollections stores too!(Beggars Bush)
15
Pollutants - dirt
Rocky
mountain
goat
Before
After
Work by Jac Bouten & Son, Venlo, Netherlands 2003
Light - Fading
• Mammals fade to“giraffe colours” ofcream and tan
• Birds less obvious,less familiar
Thylacine, acquired
1917
Light - Embrittlement
• UV damage to structure of hide
• Combined with poor heatcontrol
• Form maintains shape, skinstretches and splits
• Solutions: replacement or repair
Giraffe in 2001, acquired
1897
16
Replacement: Giraffe
Jac Bouten & Son, Venlo, Netherlands, January 2003
Heat
• Large bore pipework
• Floor heating of largespaces
• Heat loss through roof
• Little buffering
• Shrinkage of hides
Repair: Zebra
Equus burchelli burchelli extinct in wild1910, in captivity 1918
ex Antwerp Zoo, then Dublin Zoo 1885,died 1895
Work by Jac Bouten &
Son, Venlo, Netherlands
2003
NMINH : 1895.201
17
Pests
• Need airflow which isnot provided throughopen doors andwindows
• Need to seal floorspaces and otherrefuges
Documenting
• Repeatability = Science
• Proof
• Who you, the collector
• When day, month, year (also tide, time…)
• Where GPS; lat & long; country
• What species identification
• How PRESERVATION (& gear)
• Field Notes
• Publications
Documenting
National Museum of Ireland - Natural History Division
2003.32.1
Cryptochiton stelleri Middendorff
Botanical Bay, N. of park, West Coast ofVancouver Island, Canada
coll. J.D. Sigwart 2 September 2003
(know your goal)
18
Duchas National Parks
and Wildlife• Interaction on biodiversity, internally (e.g. NPWS,EVS,
National Botanic Gardens and NMI) and externally
• Ensuring all Departments are aware of, and feed into,
relevant developments under Convention
• North/South co-operation on biodiversity
• Review Policy on Nature Conservation including the European
Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations, 1997
• Produce National Biodiversity Plan and co-ordinate its
implementation
Duchas The Wildlife Act
Wildlife Act 1976; Wildlife (Ammendment) Act 2000
http:// www.duchas.ie
“fauna” means all wild birds and all wild animals (both aquaticand terrestrial) and includes wild mammals, reptiles,
amphibians and aquatic and non-aquatic invertebrate
animals, and all such wild animals’ eggs, larvae, pupae or
other immature stage and young
“conservation” includes measures to maintain of enhance orrestore the quality, value or diversity of speices, habitats,
communities, geological features or geomorphological features
CITES
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(Washington, D.C. 1973; Ammended 1997)
• 164 Parties
http:// www.cites.org
Appendix I - most endangered
Appendix II - not necessarily endangered … yet
19
CITES in Ireland
Appendix I - 18
(8 whales, 5 birds, 3 sea turtles, Otter, & Atlantic Sturgeon)
Appendix II - 72
Deleted - 4
(Mediterranean & Lesser Horseshoe bats, Glossy Ibis,
Pond Terrapin)
• No species protected by CITES has become extinct since
the Convention came into force
Vouchering
• (permits in order)
• Repository information for
citation = repeatability
• Do not underestimatevalue to future research