[Nhcoll-l] Leatherback turtle help needed

[Peter Howlett]

Hi Becky

We prepared a Leatherback for display here at the National Museum of Wales back in the 1980s. The carapace is remarkably tough, the skin and the small plates making up the carapace hold together well. We found that the inside of the carapace was lined with a layer (perhaps 3-4cm thick) of really dense fat which was scraped out. I believe the inside of the carapace was taken back to the bony plates. We had the carapace degreased (not sure on the methodology as I wasn't involved with that bit) but it caused considerable shrinkage. To counter this the skin and carapace was then soaked in a salt solution with 1% formic acid which made the skin and carapace a little more pliable before we stitched it over the body form for display. Despite the quite aggressive degreasing there is still slight oil seepage, especially around the head, although the carapace itself isn't too bad, so it is really difficult to remove all the oil.

Hope this helps a bit.

Regards

Peter

Curator of Vertebrates
Dept of BioSyB
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales
Cardiff
CF10 3NP

Tel: +44 (0)29 20 57 32 33



From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Becky Desjardins
Sent: 21 June 2013 10:58
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Leatherback turtle help needed

Hello all;

We have a leatherback turtle that was half prepared.  The bones and skin were removed but the shell sat in the freezer for about 4 years, where it curled dreadfully.  We uncurled it by soaking in 4% Formalin for a weekend, and then dried it out flat for about a month.  It looks okay; it is nice and flat, but it is really greasy.  There is still a fair amount of meat under the shell, (15-20mm in some spots) but I really don't know how much is safe to remove without damaging the integrity of the shell. Does anyone have any suggestions?  Thank you!


Met vriendelijke groeten,

Becky Desjardins

Taxidermist/Preparator



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