[Nhcoll-l] Mastodon challenge

[Pinsdorf, Michelle]

Hello Karen,

Assuming that your mastodon specimens are sub-fossil (or at least highly porous), they will be affected by soaking or large-volume applications of water. Since the poison ivy would only have come in contact with the surface of the specimens anyway, a drenching wouldn't be needed.
Urushiol oil is soluble in ethanol, so an idea would be getting some in a spray bottle and spritzing the surface of your specimens with that, after matrix removal but prior to the application of adhesives or stabilizers that would seal the oil in place on the specimen surface. Acetone or rubbing alcohol may work as well. It would be important to do this part under a fume hood, so that the vapors wouldn't be inhaled. The quick evaporation rate of the alcohol should minimize the risk of damage to the specimens. If spraying the matrix will make it 'muddy' and possibly stain or destabilize the fossils, you could choose to remove the matrix and roots first before alcohol treatment.
Bagging the specimens may incur risk of them developing mold, sprouting new growth from the roots, etc. if the specimens and matrix contain moisture. Perhaps you weren't planning on prepping and stabilizing these specimens for curation in the near term anyway, but urushiol can remain potent for years. I'm not aware if there may be testing materials to determine if the oil has been successfully removed from your specimens after treatment.

Good luck,
Michelle Pinsdorf

Michelle Pinsdorf
Vertebrate Fossil Preparator
Department of Paleobiology
t 202.633.1356 pinsdorfm at si.edu<mailto:pinsdorfm at si.edu>

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Karen Morton
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2018 4:13 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Mastodon challenge

Dear List Members,

We recently received a collection of mastodon bones that were eroding out of a hillside.  It turns out the area they were collected from was completely surrounded with poison ivy.  We'd love to be able to process them like every other donation, but we have already had one person break out in a rash just from the initial hand-over.  Does anyone have any recommendations on how to care for these fossils without endangering staff?  Should we just bag them up as is, label the outside of the packaging, and put warning signs for future reference (with the specimen AND in the database records)?  The bones have not been cleaned up and clumps of dirt and roots are still mixed in with them.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

KAREN MORTON
Collections Manager
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
P 214.756.5722 | karen.morton at perotmuseum.org<mailto:karen.morton at perotmuseum.org>

2201 N. Field Street, Dallas, TX 75201
P 214.428.5555 | F 214.428.5892| perotmuseum.org<http://www.perotmuseum.org/>

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