specimen preparation

These are the first skeletons that I ever articulated. The bones of these and other rats and mice were mixed together in two dermestid beetle tanks, along with the bones of a small chicken and a mudpuppy salamander. After I retrieved the bones from the colony, I sorted them into piles and assembled a series of mosaics! These three are the best of the series. Each skeleton is comprised of bones from at least two individuals. What a puzzle! I would do it again.

Domestic rat, domestic mice

Hartwick College, Spring 2010

I no longer have this specimen. It is a sharp-shinned hawk (Accipitor striatus) that died after colliding with a library window in Oneonta, New York. At the time, In 2010, I had no knowledge of what was and was not legal to collect. This is a bird of prey and is illegal to posess without a permit, as it is specified in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The reality is this: In the United States, posessing the body part(s) of any native avian species is illegal without a federal and in many cases, a state permit. The implication is that practically every single wild bird that you will ever see is well-protected against over-collection. The fashion industry-orchestrated massacres of birds that necessitated the law will never happen again. The bad news is that it's technically illegal to keep feathers that you find on the ground. European starlings, English sparrows, city pigeons (European rock doves), monk parakeets and domestic fowl, while established in the United States, are introduced species and are not protected by this law.

Migratory Bird Treaty Act - 1918 - One of the first wildlife protection laws ever passed in the United States. The Act prohibits the taking, killing, or keeping any native bird, its parts, or its nest, without a permit or license. All raptors that are native to the United States are covered by this law.

Click here to be re-directed to the Act itself (US Fish and Wildlife)

I learned the hard way. Part of my collection had to be confiscated. Fortunately, I took some pictures first!