[Nhcoll-l] The Dangerous Museum

Thu Dec 12 04:07:52 EST 2013

I like this thread! And continuing the failed freezer full of animals theme…….

Back in late 1990s we were stripping down a beak whale head for a skeletal prep. We got to the part of needing to mash up the brain contents and wash them out but thought we'd leave that for another day, so we slid the head back into our one remaining working cold room. This was full of various dead animals including many, many seabirds killed by the Sea Empress oil spill that had recently hit West Wales.

Two weeks later we came back. The freezer thermocouple read +30C.... Oh dear! We opened the door and even for seasoned zoologists the smell was rather strong. Ahead lay a sea of whale goo (yes, the brain had glooped out), blood, intestinal juices and oil! The complaints from the surrounding offices were now coming in thick and fast....

Well we spent the next few days wading through this, taking accession numbers and bagging the stuff for disposal. We then arranged for the city council to collect the animal waste. They arrived in a standard compression type bin lorry... We then had to convince the foreman of the lorry that it was officially arranged and it ok to take the stuff! So we loaded up the animal waste and then quickly stepped back as we watched the foreman press the button that compressed the waste.... and out came the tidal wave of rotting animal juices from the back of the wagon! It then proceeded to drive down the main road dripping this fine ‘soup’ across the carriageway…

Jules

Julian Carter
Amgueddfa Cymru / National Museum Wales
________________________________
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Gali Beiner
Sent: 11 December 2013 16:44
To: Callomon,Paul
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] The Dangerous Museum

What would you say if I told you we had not one failed freezer, but three? Actually it's ”have", not ”has”... At the moment we're dealing with the lovely fragrant contents.

Evidently, we need to find out our very own local version for 'sod's law'!

Gali
בתאריך 11 בדצמ 2013 16:08, "Callomon,Paul" <prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu>> כתב:
We had a freezer fail the other day. Sod’s Law (the UK version of Murphy’s Law) said it was the only one that did not have a fail alarm, so things got good and warm and stayed that way for several days, if not weeks. The first indication something was wrong was the presence of Drosophila in the adjacent collection area. Laudably – but inadvisably – one of our botanists investigated, found the delinquent freezer…and opened the lid. In retrospect, he shouldn’t have taken a sudden intake of breath with that many fruit flies directly in front of his face…

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096<tel:215-405-5096> - Fax 215-299-1170<tel:215-299-1170>

From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>] On Behalf Of Kate Pocklington
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 10:17 PM
To: dinoceras at juno.com<mailto:dinoceras at juno.com>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] The Dangerous Museum

Story goes that back in the old days (late 1800's, early 1900's) some chap found a cone snail on a beach in South Africa, it made it back to the museum but sadly he didn't, he got harpooned and killed. (I heard this whilst working at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.)

Personally the most disgusting thing I've come across; a tank of fish, the alcohol had evaporated down to about 5cm in the bottom of the tank (~10%), the whole thing was infested with Megaselia scalaris including the maggots. The tank surfaces were covered with a layer of eggs and maggots. Not to mention how disgusting the smell was... the fish were rotting and the worst part; they were squirming with the amount of maggots. Conservation to the max.

-----Original Message-----
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of dinoceras at juno.com<mailto:dinoceras at juno.com>
Sent: 10 December 2013 23:19
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] The Dangerous Museum

Hi all,

I'm working on a talk for visitors to our museum that's all about the types of dangers (dangerous objects, substances, activities, etc.) we sometimes encounter in our work behind-the-scenes in collections. It's meant to be informative, not to mention---entertaining. I'm starting with how we get objects to the museum, preparing & conserving them, handling them, etc. If any of you have any stories or images you are willing to share along these lines, please contact me. I'd love to hear about what you've had to deal with from disease-carrying rodents to nasty stuff on clothing & herbarium sheets, and everything in between.

Thanks in advance,

Chris Chandler

Curator of Natural Science
Putnam Museum
Davenport, IA

dinoceras at juno.com<mailto:dinoceras at juno.com>
563-324-1054 x226<tel:563-324-1054%20x226>
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