Caroline's Blog: So You Think You Have RM Challenges?

30.11.09

The value of all this is that there are representations of virtually every bird on the planet since the 1800s. What’s more, changes in individual species—as well as environmental changes—can be tracked by comparing the birds’ physical characteristics and unearthing. Scientists and researchers from all over the world apply to do research there.

And as for the risks, there are about a million of them. They are feathered, delicate and very defenceless to insects as well as temperature and humidity changes. The risk of stored bird skins being devoured by insects is solved the old fashioned, low-tech way, with mothballs. Gap a drawer containing of skins in the museum’s large storage area provides very strong demonstration of the moth balls—grandma’s attic never smelled like this!

One risk that is new to me: The bones of many birds are cleaned and kept for check out—they show the structure of the bird in ways that the outward feathers and skin can’t. In the old days, we were told, these bones were painstakingly cleaned by shackles and then dried. They ended up a light brown color, because not every bit of muscle and fascia could be removed.

Source: National Underwriter Property And Casualty Insurance News