"Let's restore this swordfish specimen first." Sonia said, and she decided to start with this fish. Relatively speaking, the repair of this swordfish is the simplest. It not only saves time, but also allows the apprentices to practice their skills.
The apprentices gathered around - as future remote exploration team and natural history museum staff, learning how to make and repair specimens is considered basic business learning.
The main problem with swordfish specimens is cracking of the skin. In fact, it is caused by excessive drying of the leather. So the first thing is to restore the elasticity of the skin.
Sonia first used a duster to dust away the dust on the specimen, and then asked two apprentices to carefully brush away the dust and dirt on the surface with fine-bristled brushes.
“You can ignore the dirt that cannot be removed by brushing,” Sonia said. “We can use water to remove it later when we soften the surface.”
After removing the dust, Sonia asked the apprentices to bring clean cloth strips, soak them in water and wrap the entire specimen. This step allows the specimen's skin to absorb water, soften it, and restore some of the skin's tension.
How long this step takes does not entirely depend on the personal experience of the specimen restorer. Sonia has some experience in restoring fish skinned specimens. She set a time for the alarm clock in the herbarium.
"It still takes a certain amount of time for the skin to absorb moisture. Let's take advantage of this time to complete part of the process of a new specimen." She then motioned to Da Wen: "Bring specimen No. 171."
The specimen she is preparing to make is the bird specimen collected during the recent expedition to Taiwan: the Taiwan blue magpie.
Sonia first displayed a museum painting of Taiwanese blue magpie on the easel:
"This was collected in the mountains of the Taitung Longitudinal Valley. It is a unique bird of Taiwan Island. The Latin literary name is Urocissa caerulea. It belongs to the subclass Urocissa caerulea, Corvidae, genus Blue Magpie, and the Taiwan blue magpie species. You can get closer. Look – the picture is smaller.”
Some people gathered. Sonia continued:
"In this museum painting, you can clearly see: the head, face, neck, throat, and chest of the Taiwan blue magpie are all black, with yellow eyes surrounding black pupils, and bright red beaks, feet, and body The visible upper part and the lower part of the abdomen are bright blue, with twelve tail feathers. The longest two feathers are blue-rooted and white, and the second one is black-rooted and white, symmetrical. The lower abdomen and lower tail coverts are gray and white. . Its tail feathers are extremely long, accounting for two-thirds of its total length."
"Like all corvids, the Taiwan blue magpie has a noisy personality, with a loud and noisy call. When flying, it usually moves in a straight line, often in pairs or small groups. It is widely distributed on Taiwan Island, with many Its specimens have been collected from all locations. It is generally found in lower mountain jungles and is rarely seen in plain areas."
Sonia talked like a seasoned university professor. In fact, she has never taught anyone a lesson in the past, but she has taught one apprentice, informally - after all, she is too young, and openly teaching an apprentice will inevitably give the impression of "arrogance" to her colleagues in the guild. After arriving at Lingao, influenced and encouraged by Lin Hanlong, I slowly began to teach professional knowledge to others. Especially after she mastered Chinese better, she spent most of her free time taking classes by herself or teaching others. Teaching experience has also been accumulated.
"This blue magpie is so beautiful!" A girl interjected.
"Yes, the blue magpie does have a beautiful appearance. Like the corvids, it is quite intelligent. It can be domesticated as an ornamental bird, but its call is too unpleasant."
"Then why don't our museum tame a few live animals? It's more vivid than looking at specimens or pictures."
"There is no need to fix the specimen yet..."
Most of the apprentices are women, and they chatter all the time.
"Raising live animals is a zoo's business, we are not a zoo." Sonia said, "Maybe we will open a zoo in Lingao in the future." She brought the topic back, "According to observations during several inspections: its personality is fierce. , like to gather in groups. They often move in small groups. They fly in a row and flock together all year round. They are very territorial and will drive away other invading birds."
Just as he was talking, Dawen had already brought the collected specimens.
This Taiwanese blue magpie was placed in a large shallow enamel basin with a lid. Sonia put on gloves and carefully moved the collection from the plate to the tiled specimen preparation table.
"You can first observe the appearance characteristics of the Taiwan blue magpie, and then compare it with other birds of the genus Blue Magpie. Xiaowen..."
Xiao Wen immediately displayed the museum paintings of the other five species of blue magpies - which Sonia had prepared in advance for today's specimen class.
"Before making the specimen, we first measure its size. The length measurement standard for each part of the bird is as follows:
Body length is measured from the end of the mouth to the end of the tail; peak length of the bill: the straight line distance from the basal feathers of the bill to the tip of the upper bill; wing length: the distance from the wing angle to the longest flight feather to the tip; tail length: the feathers from the tail The straight line distance from the base to the longest tail feather to the tip; tarsal toe length: from the midpoint behind the tibia and tarsal toe joint to the lower edge of the entire scale at the bottom of the front of the tarsal toe and middle joint.
She opened the measuring tape and measured the length of the specimen: body length 64.5 cm, wingspan 20.3 cm, tail 39.7 cm...
According to the numbers she dictated, Xiaowen began to record the production diary.
"Before we start production, we must first make preparations, and first of all, we must do protective work." Sonia said, "All birds and animals carry parasites, bacteria and viruses, some of which are zoonotic. . So we have to wear these protective equipment such as white coats, gloves, masks, etc. Please check your protection status again."
There was a rustling sound in the house. Then it became quiet again.
"What we are making this time are bird specimens. Prior to this, the collected specimens have been refrigerated for 72 hours and soaked in insecticide for 24 hours to fully kill the bacteria and parasites attached to them. .”
She said, spreading the blue magpie on the production table.
"Now, let's start the first step, the separation of skin and flesh. Please pay attention."
Sonia placed the sterilized and dewormed bird on its back on the workbench, divided the feathers from the chest to the abdomen to both sides, then raised a sharp scalpel and neatly cut off the blue magpie's chest, along the midline. It opens into the abdomen, forming a superficial opening.
"Be careful when getting off the island. Don't cut too deep to prevent direct abdominal dissection - in this case, the abdominal contents will leak out and contaminate the skin and feathers. The depth is roughly the right distance for incising the epidermis, and the length is about the distance from the anus. Two centimeters away.”
She used tweezers to uncover the epidermis, clamped the skin with tweezers, and tore apart the flesh and fur bit by bit.
"... Be gentle when peeling. Be especially careful when peeling a bird's skin. Its appearance is mainly characterized by its feathers, so you must not damage the feathers when peeling."
As the stripping proceeds, the bird's blood begins to flow and there is discharge from the anus. Dawen wiped it with absorbent paper at any time.
"Pay special attention to keeping them clean to prevent contamination of the feathers and affecting their appearance."
Sonia's fingers were nimble and strong, and her movements were steady and fast, seemingly very easy. When she encounters joints or tight adhesions, she picks up a scalpel and peels them off.
She started peeling off the chest and abdomen to the head and tail. When peeling to the shoulders, she first peeled off the fur at the base of the wings, used scissors to cut off the muscles at the base of the wings, cut off the joints, and then continued to peel off toward the ends of the wings until there was no muscle tissue. , use scissors to cut off the bones and muscles together. When peeling the legs, first peel off the fur at the base of the legs, use scissors to cut off the muscles and joints, then continue to peel off towards the front of the legs until there is no muscle tissue, and use scissors to cut off the bones and muscles together.
When she was nearing the end of the skin, she stopped temporarily and used absorbent paper to wipe away the blood and fat under the skin and between the muscles. Be careful here and don't peel it all the way to the bottom, otherwise it will easily damage the tail and cloaca hole, and avoid causing the tail feathers to fall off and excrement and fat to leak out.
So she only peeled it down to near the base of the tail, leaving some muscle tissue. Turn to peeling off the upper skin. It was difficult to peel off the skin from the head, so she worked more carefully until the entire head was peeled off, leaving only a little bit where the beak was connected. Then take the scissors and cut cleanly directly at the base of the beak.
In this way, a complete bird feather skin of the Taiwan blue magpie is completely peeled off. Lay flat on the crafting table.
The apprentices watched it very seriously, and couldn't help but hold their breath every time they came to a critical point. At this time, the entire production room was silent. When the problem was successfully solved, everyone couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief together.
Sonia picked up the scalpel, neatly cut off the skinned bird head, and placed it in a small porcelain basin aside.
"If conditions permit, you can keep the skull so that when making specimens, the head will have a basic support and the restoration will be better. But it must be well preserved." As she said this, she used a scalpel to remove the stains on the bird's skull. Brain tissue, eyes, tongue and muscles.
"Boil it in water and remove the bones." She told Dawen. Then he picked up the fur and said: "After peeling off the fur, the second step is to clean it. Just use soap powder mixed with water." The speaker dipped the fur into an enamel basin and gently rubbed it.
"When cleaning, the inside and outside should be clean. Also check the cortex. If there is any remaining muscle tissue, you can continue to remove it. Be careful not to use too much force to prevent feathers from falling off."
After cleaning, Sonia hung the blue magpie's fur on a special rack and placed it in a cool place, letting it drip and dry naturally.
The peeled fur easily loses water and becomes hard, which affects later production, so it cannot be left for too long. Generally, the peeling is completed in the morning, and it is washed and left to dry until the afternoon before filling. It's already past four o'clock in the afternoon - we can only have one more shift today.
(End of chapter)
