[Nhcoll-l] no data specimens
Cody Thompson
cwthomp at umich.edu
Thu Oct 14 13:46:37 EDT 2021
Hi, Catherine! It looks like you have received a lot of good advice here.
Like most, I would think twice about deaccessioning. Rather than donating,
you could provide them as a permanent loan to another institution for
education and outreach use.
I do have one word of caution about mammal taxidermy and fur. Depending on
their vintage, arsenic and other nasty chemicals were used pretty
frequently on these sorts of specimens. So, be cautious on what you donate
or loan to other institutions for hands-on educational purposes.
Good luck,
Cody
Cody W. Thompson, PhD
Mammal Collections Manager
& Assistant Research Scientist
University of Michigan
Museum of Zoology
3600 Varsity Drive
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
Office: (734) 615-2810
Fax: (734) 763-4080
Email: cwthomp at umich.edu
Website: codythompson.org
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UMMZ/Herbarium has limited
personnel available working onsite. No loan returns should be shipped
without prior notification, and collection visits, loan requests, gifts,
exchanges, etc. should be coordinated with the appropriate curatorial
staff. Please expect delayed responses. We apologize for any inconvenience
this may cause.
On Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 1:33 PM Thomas Labedz <tlabedz1 at unl.edu> wrote:
> A few months ago I posted a request for information about deaccessioning
> “no data” taxidermy of common game birds. As a result of the informative
> and positive comments from this group there has been a change in plans and
> we are now going to hold these mounts as best we can. In the past I have
> “unmounted” smaller birds and repositioned them into study skins. Doing the
> same I’ll start to nibble away at these, likely beginning with the rarest.
> Thank you all for the advice.
>
> Thomas
>
>
>
> Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager
>
> Division of Zoology and Division of Botany
>
> University of Nebraska State Museum
>
> Morrill Hall
>
> 645 North 14th Street
> Lincoln, NE 68588-0338
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> * On Behalf Of *McLaren,
> Suzanne
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:05 PM
> *To:* Catherine Early (she/her) <cearly at smm.org>;
> nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens
>
>
>
> Non-NU Email
> ------------------------------
>
> I’ll just mention one mammal species that will make anyone think twice
> about not maintaining what we have initially accepted “in trust for the
> future”: *Myotis lucifugus* – the little brown bat was the most common
> species of bat in eastern North America until white-nose syndrome struck in
> 2005. Roosts that once hosted *tens of thousands* of ‘little browns’
> have been decimated in some places to numbers in the *teens*. It was
> unthinkable 20 years ago. In this changing world, the question is what
> species is next? It sounds so dramatic until you think about *Myotis
> lucifugus*.
>
>
>
> Sue
>
>
>
> *Suzanne B. McLaren *(she, her, hers)
>
> Collection Manager, Section of Mammals
>
> Edward O'Neil Research Center
>
> (Carnegie Museum of Natural History Annex)
>
> 5800 Baum Blvd
>
> Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA
>
> Telephone 412-665-2615
>
> Fax 412-665-2751
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> *On Behalf Of *Bentley,
> Andrew Charles
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 12:43 PM
> *To:* Catherine Early (she/her) <cearly at smm.org>;
> nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens
>
>
>
> Catherine
>
>
>
> 1. There are all sorts of techniques like genetic, ectoparasite and
> environmental work that can be done on these skins that may yield data that
> is useful even if provenance is unknown. I agree that you have to balance
> this against space and resource limitations but maybe imaging and keeping
> portions of the skins for genetic analysis would be doable if not keeping
> the whole animal
> 2. This is a slippery slope I agree and donating these to educational
> facilities is the way to go. There are a myriad of these in your own and
> area and beyond that would be grateful for the materials. Our mission is
> not only to serve the research community but the educational community
> too. There are all sorts of negative connotations regarding deaccessioning
> to members of the general public etc. that I would deem fraught with issues
> and would not attempt.
>
>
>
> Andy
>
> A : A : A :
> }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
> V V V
> Andy Bentley
> Ichthyology Collection Manager
> University of Kansas
> Biodiversity Institute
>
> Dyche Hall
> 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
> Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
> USA
>
> Tel: (785) 864-3863
> Fax: (785) 864-5335
> Email: abentley at ku.edu
>
> http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http*3a*2f*2fichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu*2f&c=E,1,URnxGAJyoFIKt4AG4DD9Fpz-vK-KsLALD0KQdjTyTUC6nWQZ8vcAgh0E2LOIkwhRlhWz1AIJA6RpqbCfz2abnnnZXKj2Xxb7rIKVCxyoAc4UFg,,&typo=1__;JSUlJQ!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!QY9gTf7xb0omCd5iWMgxGefivXAtAVVcleRWXHYBfFo7iNYk11QDtSQbP5hVsoAx$>
>
> A : A : A :
> }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
> V V V
>
>
>
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> *On Behalf Of *Catherine
> Early (she/her)
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 14, 2021 8:18 AM
> *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] no data specimens
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
>
>
> I have a two-part question today:
>
>
>
> 1) Is there any *scientific* value to tanned hides with no data? We have
> many large mammal hides that were purchased from fur suppliers in the
> 1970's that take up a lot of room but lack data. We might keep one of each
> species for identification, but otherwise, they do not belong in a
> scientific collection (where we are constantly running out of space),
> correct?
>
>
>
> 2) Have any of your institutions developed protocols for deaccessioning no
> data specimens into the hands of private citizens? We will prioritize
> giving no data (former) specimens to education centers, but there is a
> limited need for no data shell collections that previous curators accepted
> from donors, so we will likely need to look elsewhere. We know that we
> would be limited in what we could give to private citizens by permit
> restrictions for owning wildlife parts, but we're also very concerned with
> devaluing public opinions of specimens by creating the impression that
> specimens can just be given away. I would love to hear any language or
> agreements you've developed to make it clear why items are deaccessioned
> and how they differ from scientific specimens.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Catherine
>
>
>
>
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fwww.smm.org*2F&data=04*7C01*7Cabentley*40ku.edu*7C1d55b3ed6f9542d1b64c08d98f151713*7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a*7C0*7C0*7C637698143621953123*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=lwhKYeSr5G6n7q0dyonTLTSFvBpWENKL*2BYUItbJ*2F4Ac*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJQ!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!QY9gTf7xb0omCd5iWMgxGefivXAtAVVcleRWXHYBfFo7iNYk11QDtSQbP2aLkxjb$>
>
> *Catherine M. Early, PhD*
>
> she/her
>
> *Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology*
>
> e: cearly at smm.org
>
> https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fcatherineearly.wixsite.com*2Fhome&data=04*7C01*7Cabentley*40ku.edu*7C1d55b3ed6f9542d1b64c08d98f151713*7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a*7C0*7C0*7C637698143621963114*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=EbcTjpM7bcyw2aGvPRHLTReNnLNNhpBhV25aDuRVQAc*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!PvXuogZ4sRB2p-tU!QY9gTf7xb0omCd5iWMgxGefivXAtAVVcleRWXHYBfFo7iNYk11QDtSQbP6R4j0RZ$>
>
>
>
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