Comparative collections

[Jessica SC Sproviero]

So... how do other people go about collecting comparative skeletal collections?

[adam heinrich]

being a wimp, most of mine are from the grocery store or butcher so they are reasonably cleaned. my deer specimen was found in the woods. also it seems to pay to have a friend in PA. i was just given a bear head and paws left over from a taxadermist! not sure how that is going to get cleaned though. i have gotten some skulls off of ebay, but oddly, competition is extreme, and it is hard to find anything but skulls on there. the skulls i have purchased are great and could rival the any bought from Skulls Unlimited for 400% higher prices.

sadly, there are too many laws prohibiting the collection of animals. there are federal and state permits needed to really collect anything, even roadkills. with that, there could be serious penalties for having something endangered, even if it was a roadkill. the permits are very expensive and need to be renewed annually to make it worse for us starving archy students.

since you are in NJ, i recommend the Hind and Fore butcher in Somerville/Raritan area. just tell them you have a strange request, and the old guy will respond with "a few years back i got a really strange request, some guy wanted us to order a complete sheep!" that weirdo was me. but anyway, though they don't carry the the fully boned cuts as often as they did in the past, they have been able to get me what i want.

[Jessica SC Sproviero]

Lol, I never even thought about permits, honestly. I purchased 1 rat skeleton off ebay and brought a few beach-collected bones back from Peru. You should have seen the look on the face of the woman at customs! I figure I can get a few more rat skeletons when my beloved pets pass on by sending them to this place I found online, Second Trophy; it's about $8 to have a rat beetle cleaned + shipping to and from CO. I know it's demented to have the bones of a pet cleaned, but I know what their diets have consisted of! Do you think it would be easier to just bury them and exhume later on? I tried maceration once, on a frozen feeder rat, but my parents flipped!

p.s. Just so no one gets the wrong idea, I don't believe in animal cruelty. I take very good care of my pets.

[adam heinrich]

i am amazed they let them through at customs. i practically had to bribe the guy to bring in a few ounces of south african biltong that was vacuum sealed! my maceration attempt failed miserably. i had a few cow femora and tibiae that just stank and developed some odd growth that was nearly as hard as stone. i don't know if it was fungus or marrow explosion since it seemed to come from the cavity. even burial after that failed attempt wouldn't decay the growth. i have heard rumors that rutgers has a beetle colony.

what better way to honor your pet than keep them for science?! are all zooarchers demented like me?

[Jessica SC Sproviero]

I was honestly shocked that I didn't have more of an issue getting the bones back from Peru. I had them in my luggage, not carry-on. It had to be scanned once when getting on the plane to Lima, getting on a plane in Lima, once while switching flight companies in Florida. Only the woman in Lima made me open my bag so she could search it. She pulled out the bag (I had them wrapped in toilet paper lol) and asked what it was. I replied huesos and she says, "bones!?!" At that point she threw them back in, zipped my bag up, and sent me on my merry way. It really wasn't that bad, too bad I lost 1/2 of them when my parents found them drying out on the porch...

I lost my rat's sister yesterday morning, her tumors and depression from the loss of my other one finally gave way... It's actually gonna save me on shipping though as I can overnight them both tomorrow. I've decided just to have them beetle cleaned as I'm too nervous about their peroxide bath... I hope this works out as they're only charging me $7.50 per rat to clean, but Rutgers might be something to look into...

p.s. AND THANK YOU! I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it as a way of honoring a pet as my friends and family officially believe I've gone off the deep end. For all their complaining however, I am grateful that my parents let me store them in the freezer for a few days.

[Randy Norris]

I've built my comparative collection from skeletons i've found in the field. Mainly cow, wild pig, racoon, armadillo, rats, turtles, deer, domestic dog. All recent deaths of course and not excavated. I always bring trash bags and ziplock bags with me in the field for just such opportunities. I've used burial and maceration with great results each time. Of course my family thinks I'm kind of demented for having a bone yard in my house. Not to mention my neighbors don't care much for the maceration process.

[Allison Grunwald]

A supervisor of mine went to a fishery and collected discarded fish heads to use as a basis for comparison. Another supervisor collected roadkill and boiled the flesh off of them. (Yeah, he was a character). :)

[Anjanette]

The quickest and surest way to get some specimens is to either have friends that hunt for meat or find a meat processor. Where I am from, they are not rare. The deal is you have to know what the regulations are for the remainder carcass. My friends have gotten me white tail, mule dear, elk, bear, squirrel (even though, I would be happy to sacrifice the ones that eat my apples) and a coyote. Currently, the bones are being cleaned for me by another friend. If you want to clean them yourself, find something that gives you the correct hydrogen peroxide to water ratio for cleaning the bones. You don't want any of the soft tissue as this is what rots and gets really stinky. If you can find a veterinarian who collects animals for scientific study that is the best way to get domestics like cats, dogs, birds, turtles, etc.

Check with your state wildlife management service to find out what to do. They may even help you if you allow them access to your collection for research and identification purposes. If so, remember to name whomever helps you if they allow it when you write anything about anything using your collection. Ego petting is the best way to get what you need sometimes.

If you collect roadkill, check your state regulations. If you collect it off of or around an interstate, make sure no federal laws apply. If you are in state or federal lands, expect red tape. Also, talk to ranchers and farmers about collecting carcasses off of their properties. Generally, as long as you come straight away when they call, they will cooperate. No one likes taking care of a carcass. Dead animals are not good around live animals so they must be disposed of quickly.

I hope this helps a little.

[Amanda]

I know folks who have used their pets - they bury them for a while, and when they've been in the ground long enough dig them up. Many a collection I've seen has a pet dog or cat in it. Also, dinner remains and things found in the woods. These are easy, cheap ways of beginning a collection of local fauna, if you're willing to put in the cleaning and holding your nose time. Never underestimate the power of friends. Farmers, hunters, or those who have many pets (and aren't squeamish about you keeping said pets in a cabinet). There are many sources out there on techniques for preparing specimens for a collection - from burying and boiling to treating the bones with chemicals. Do a little research and you'll only have to deal with stink in the beginning.

Other than that, there are a number of websites that sell complete or partial skeletons, both in the US and UK. Some will sell just the skulls, if you need. These can be pricey, but may be the route to taking your collection to the next level. For example, if you're needing an eagle or bobcat. Many of these sites are legal venues for rarer or non-local specimens.

Good luck! I'm awaiting the day when I have space to begin building my own collection.