[Nhcoll-l] Bat Prep thoughts

[Hanke, Gavin RBCM:EX]

Thought I'd open up with a question about bat specimens (here in BC we have none larger than a Hoary or Spotted Bat). Since they are fiddley and time consuming to prepare, I am wondering whether it makes sense to depart from the traditional study skin to help speed prep when we get large samples from researchers (as will happen with today's surveys for Whitenose).

What if prep was like this:
1) take measurements as usual, or as possible given the state of the carcass
2) remove a large swatch of skin and fur off the belly (and back?) (a big postage stamp sized swatch) rather than doing a traditional skin. The swatch(es) are then scraped of any fat and connective tissue, washed, pinned out flat and dried - then into a ziplock bag for long term storage. The swatch could be sampled for skin clips or fur samples just like a traditional skin. However, with a skin swatch, we would not have the stress of trying to take a sample and keep the skin looking perfect.
3) skull and entire post-cranial skeleton could then be left to dermestid beetles.
4) without worry about the perfect wing (i.e., part 3), we could save multiple wing punches, as well as muscle, and/or liver from the body.
In the end, we have a tiny ziplock bag with skin swatches, muscle or liver and wing punches in cryovials, and skeleton in a small plastic box. It also would cut down on the dermestid threat to the collection since the skin swatches are bagged.

Obviously it would be good to preserve traditional skins for the first few of a species in a given area, or those with unusual colouration. And we are used to seeing bat-looking objects in the trays of specimens - but is there really a need to prepare traditional study skins all the time for museum specimens?

Same could be said for pelts of Moose, Elk, Grizzly, Bison, etc. Is a 20 cm by 20 cm swatch of fur enough for scientific research? It'd save costs and time if we don't have to get a pelt tanned. The swatch could be housed in a ziplock bag in a Durphy box with the skeleton (or skull) from the same animal, saving lots of space in a collection.

I've never seen anyone in BC study entire pelts of larger mammals - but skin clips and hair samples obviously are popular research items (gut and/or scat analysis, road-kill ID). Once the "research swatch" is secured, multiple swatches from a large animal also could be taken for educators - hands-on samples of fur with replacements.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Gavin (Royal BC Museum)
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Dr. Gavin Hanke Curator, Vertebrate Zoology | Collections, Knowledge and Engagement
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