[Nhcoll-l] Skeleton preservation

[Sergio Montagud]

Thank you, Verity, for your help. I can try the technique you recommended on the larger bones, but it’s difficult to apply to smaller bones, like those of the hand and vertebrae. I’ll give it a try and see the results. Thanks again for your help.
Simon, OdorXit sounds like a good option, but I think it might be a bit hard to find here in Europe.

Best wishes,
Sergio

De: Mathis,Verity L <vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu>
Fecha: martes, 12 de noviembre de 2024, 14:15
Para: Sergio Montagud <sergio.montagud at gmail.com>
Asunto: RE: [Nhcoll-l] Skeleton preservation
HI Sergio
If you don’t mind doing some minor destructive work to the bones, you can always drill the bones with a small bit (using a Dremel or something similar) near the ends and re-soak them in an ammonia solution, that will help release some of the inner oils and fats a little faster.  Just a hole at either end might be sufficient. But its not uncommon for us to have to soak large mammal bones for months to get them satisfactorily degreased.  A 20% or lower solution shouldn’t damage them, I haven’t seen any evidence of that here in our collection.

Best of luck
Verity
******************************
Verity L. Mathis, Ph.D.
Mammal Collections Manager
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
1659 Museum Road
Gainesville FL 32611
Phone: (352) 273-2114
Email: vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu<mailto:vmathis at flmnh.ufl.edu>
FLMNH Mammals Website: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mammals/
Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/vlmathis
Google Scholar for FLMNH Mammal Collection: https://tinyurl.com/flmnh-mammals


From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Sergio Montagud
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2024 7:23 AM
To: Kairo Z <hezhu1 at gmail.com>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Skeleton preservation

[External Email]
Dear Kairo,

Thank you for your response. The skeleton is not from a reptile; it’s from an Asiatic lion. The bones appear to be very white and somewhat with  fat (I’ve attached a picture), but the smell is too strong to place them in the preservation room. Currently, all the pieces are outside, waiting for the odor to dissipate. I wonder if there is a product that could eliminate the smell, such as ammonia, but after applying (immersion) it for seven consecutive days, I haven’t achieved good results, and I don’t want to risk degrading the bones with chemicals.

Sergio


De: Kairo Z <hezhu1 at gmail.com<mailto:hezhu1 at gmail.com>>
Fecha: viernes, 8 de noviembre de 2024, 17:08
Para: Sergio Montagud <sergio.montagud at gmail.com<mailto:sergio.montagud at gmail.com>>
Asunto: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Skeleton preservation

Can you take some pictures of them? Snakes in general do not tend to have a lot of fat in the bone. So I'm wondering it may be due to something else like moisture, or a past preparation technique. Is there any staining?

On Fri, Nov 8, 2024, 6:06 AM Sergio Montagud <sergio.montagud at gmail.com<mailto:sergio.montagud at gmail.com>> wrote:

Good morning,

This is a query for those working in skeleton preservation. We have some recently acquired, disarticulated specimens prepared by different taxidermists. The issue is that some of them, especially the larger ones, still emit a very unpleasant odor that we haven’t been able to remove, even by soaking them in water with ammonia. Is there an effective and proven method for eliminating this bad smell from the bones, which I assume is caused by residual fat still trapped in them?

Thank you very much.

Sergio Montagud

--

********************************

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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