Thursday, July 16, 2015

Introduction- Vertebrate Zoology (week 2)

Vertebrate zoology focused on Herpetology preparation for scientific research

The Yale Vertebrate Zoology lab houses the Herpetology department where graduate students, interns, and professors prepare reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and bird specimens for various collections. Researchers who prepare the specimens soak the skin, the eyes, and the tongue in ethanol. They also separately prepare the skeleton by drying the skeletal structure under a fume hood and then place the specimen in a beetles eat the excess tissue and skin off of the bones. Additionally, a tissue sample is collected and frozen to be studied later for scientific research.

To show others the behind-the-scenes work with collections museums, we have been constructing and creating videos covering lab safety, lab tours, field work where we go out and see how scientists study and collect specimens to prepare. We also are filming Herpetology specimen prep with reptiles, and Ornithology specimen prep with birds.

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