Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

research

by

What’s up with the dead birds?

A study skin displayed below a taxidermy mount in Bird Hall.

by Patrick McShea

Museum visitors sometimes offer spontaneous testimony to the deceptive power of taxidermy.

“There’s a dead bird!” is a comment frequently voiced by people encountering a bird specimen lying on its back in Bird Hall, such as the Wilson’s phalarope pictured below. These specimens, so often called “dead birds”, are actually called study skins.

study skin of a Wilson's Palarope bird

Study skins are a traditional form of specimen preparation for birds in scientific collections. Unlike taxidermy mounts, which attain a pretense of life through concealed body forms, strategically positioned wires,
and glass eyes of the appropriate size and color, the cotton-stuffed study skins appear lifeless.

The more than 154,000 bird study skins in the museum’s research collection have all undergone similar preparation. For each specimen the full skin of the bird was carefully removed from the underlying muscle,
skeleton core, and internal organs, preserving every feather of the creature. Such Uniform preparation creates a standard for comparisons of features between both similar and strikingly different specimens. In addition, the low profile of study skins allows for their storage in shallow cabinet drawers in the manner of the passenger pigeon study skins pictured below.

bird study skins in a drawer

Although taxidermy mounts far outnumber study skins in Bird Hall display cases, the “skins” play an important role by representing the most numerous form of preserved specimens in the museum’s vast bird collection. Whether or not adjacent taxidermy mounts seem more alive because they share display space with the skins is something you may judge for yourself during your next museum visit.

Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences of working at the museum.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Patrick McShea
Publication date: June 22, 2016

Share this post!

by

AP3 Antarctica Peninsula Paleontology Project 2016

boats surrounded by chunks of ice

Q: What is the biggest anticipated challenge facing the expedition?

A: The thing that concerns us the most are the weather and climate conditions in our
study area. If it is very windy or foggy, our helicopters cannot fly.  If
there is fast ice stuck to the islands we want to visit, our small boats (i.e.,
landing craft) cannot reach them. If it snows, the rocks are covered, and so we
can’t find the fossils in them. Lots of different environmental factors could
pose problems for us. Other potential hazards include injuries, exhaustion,
frostbite, inability to find fossils in some places, and problems with
helicopters.

If you live in Pittsburgh, stop by tomorrow evening on 3/10/16 at 6 p.m. for Live from Antarctica at the corner of Forbes and South Bouquet in Oakland. You will be able to ask Dr. Matt Lamanna questions about his expedition from the field via a live video conference. Learn more at http://www.carnegiemnh.org/live_from_antarctica/

by

Discoverers Expedition Vilcabamba 2016: Herps

An individual of diminutive frog (ca. 1.5 cm) in the genus Noblella, which includes some of the smallest known vertebrates. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
An individual of diminutive frog (ca. 1.5 cm) in the genus Noblella, which includes some of the smallest known vertebrates. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
Imantodes cenchoa, an specimen found at ca. 2,000 m, an unusual elevation for this species. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
Imantodes cenchoa, an specimen found at ca. 2,000 m, an unusual elevation for this species. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
A female of a new species of Pristimantis with her eggs. Species of Pristimantis, as other terraranas, are direct developers, which means that they undergo development without a a free larval (tadpole) stage. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
A female of a new species of Pristimantis with her eggs. Species of Pristimantis, as other terraranas, are direct developers, which means that they undergo development without a a free larval (tadpole) stage. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
A male of another new species of Pristimantis inhabiting cloud forests above ca. 2,500 m. (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
A male of another new species of Pristimantis inhabiting cloud forests above ca. 2,500 m. (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).

José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling in the remote Vilcabamba mountains of Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos as often as possible capturing his expedition along the way

 

by

Discoverers Expedition Vilcabamba 2016

A view of the neighborhood from our hotel room in Pichari. (Photo Maira Duarte).
A view of the neighborhood from our hotel room in Pichari. (Photo Maira Duarte).
Herpetologists Roberto Gutiérrez and Victor Vargas organizing food and lighting the camp fire at Camp 4 (2760 m, 9,055 ft). (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
Herpetologists Roberto Gutiérrez and Victor Vargas organizing food and lighting the camp fire at Camp 4 (2760 m, 9,055 ft). (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
The hyper-humid conditions at Camp 4 (2760 m, 9,055 ft) make lightning a fire a difficult task. Here, Giussepe Gagliardi tries a traditional technique consisting in blowing through a bamboo cane. (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
The hyper-humid conditions at Camp 4 (2760 m, 9,055 ft) make lightning a fire a difficult task. Here, Giussepe Gagliardi tries a traditional technique consisting in blowing through a bamboo cane. (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
A luxury, our water source at Camp 4, just a few meters away from our tents and kitchen. (Photo Maira Duarte).
A luxury, our water source at Camp 4, just a few meters away from our tents and kitchen. (Photo Maira Duarte).
Journalist Andy Isaacson and herpetologists Dr. Santiago Castroviejo taking pictures from the ridge during one rare moment when the sky was clear. (Photo José Padial).
Journalist Andy Isaacson and herpetologists Dr. Santiago Castroviejo taking pictures from the ridge during one rare moment when the sky was clear. (Photo José Padial).
José Padial and Maira Duarte filming and taking pictures on the ridge at 2,850 m (ca. 9,300 ft). (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
José Padial and Maira Duarte filming and taking pictures on the ridge at 2,850 m (ca. 9,300 ft). (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
Journalist Andy Isaacson and José Padial on their descent from Camp 4 to Camp 1 on Friday Feb. 19th. (Photo Maira Duarte).
Journalist Andy Isaacson and José Padial on their descent from Camp 4 to Camp 1 on Friday Feb. 19th. (Photo Maira Duarte).
Good mood at Camp 1, after hiking down for nine hours. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
Good mood at Camp 1, after hiking down for nine hours. (Photo Giussepe Gagliardi).
The Ashaninka community of Marontuari, the last outpost before reaching Pichari, with the ridge we descended, covered in clouds, on the background (the one on the left). (Photo Maira Duarte).
The Ashaninka community of Marontuari, the last outpost before reaching Pichari, with the ridge we descended, covered in clouds, on the background (the one on the left). (Photo Maira Duarte).
At Marontuari, Roberto Gutierrez plays with a baby coati. (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).
At Marontuari, Roberto Gutierrez plays with a baby coati. (Photo Santiago Castroviejo).

José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling in the remote Vilcabamba mountains of Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos as often as possible capturing his expedition along the way.