[Nhcoll-l] Horrible ;-) taxidermized birds and mammals

[Anderson, Gretchen]

Please check for arsenic and other heavy metal pesticides prior to considering transferring them to class rooms.  Many older specimens were treated with nasty pest control substances that we do not want to expose anyone too, particularly children. In the US this was supposed to be stopped in the 1980’s – but many taxidermists continued to use arsenic (and I would assume) other pesticides until their supplies ran out. If they are full of pesticides, and you dispose of them, they will need to go into hazardous waste.

Gretchen Anderson
Gretchen Anderson
Conservator
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
(Preferred  pronouns: she/her)
AndersonG at CarnegieMNH.Org<mailto:AndersonG at CarnegieMNH.Org>
Mobile: 412-420-9083



From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Kairo Z
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 8:23 AM
To: Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu>
Cc: Sergio Montagud <sergio.montagud at gmail.com>; Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Horrible ;-) taxidermized birds and mammals

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I know of a number of colleges that would be more than happy to incorporate them into the classroom. Please reach out if you would like assistance rehoming them into education.

Kairo

On Wed, Jan 25, 2023, 10:13 PM Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu>> wrote:
Unless it is spectacularly rare or a weird morph, any donated specimen here that lacks collection data goes in the “free shells for kids” bin. Life is too short, collections donations too large and frequent, and the likely scientific usefulness of such things too low.
It’s sometimes better to let things go; in fact, it’s useful to us to do this periodically, lest in the absence of balance our instinct to conserve outmatch our sense of proportion.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170



From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 7:20 AM
To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Horrible ;-) taxidermized birds and mammals


External.

Hello everyone,

Last week we received some items of taxidermized birds and mammals in a very bad condition. Not only they are bad preserved, with dust and feather/hair fallen, also they have no data about origin, date or taxidermist. There are not interesting species, all are common except five or six that could be considered as rare.

This type of donations is frequent because most people are received now properties of their families that traditionally have these kinds of pieces.

I would ask you if anyone have experienced with these sorts of exx. and try to reuse in other terms. I want to say if they take them, extract the skull, and discard the rest or something like these.  Ideas and experiences are welcome. Evidently, invest time to recover these is not considered.

Thanks a lot

Sergio

********************************
Sergio Montagud Alario
Museu [UV] Història Natural
Universitat de València
e-mail: sergio.montagud at uv.es<mailto:sergio.montagud at uv.es>
********************************
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