{"id":11485,"date":"2025-03-26T10:06:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T08:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/?p=11485"},"modified":"2025-03-26T10:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T08:12:56","slug":"lessons-from-a-recent-heart-stopping-issue-in-the-small-mammal-dry-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/lessons-from-a-recent-heart-stopping-issue-in-the-small-mammal-dry-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"LESSONS FROM A RECENT HEART STOPPING ISSUE IN THE SMALL MAMMAL DRY COLLECTION"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]By: Lauretta Mahlangu & Teresa Kearney, DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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The small mammal collection at DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History (DNMNH) represents small mammal biodiversity primarily from the southern African region and has been continually expanded since 1901. As a result, it is a large and valuable collection. The responsibility of caring for this collection is not taken lightly by the collection custodians, and a recent discovery was the kind that keeps collection staff awake at night.<\/p>\n

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A line-up of museum study skins of different rodent species.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

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Most of the specimens were prepared and are now stored in a dry format. This means a specimen may be represented by a dry study skin as well as bones of the skull, mandible and disarticulated post-crania, which have been cleared of flesh and dried. When not used for research, the dry specimens are housed in a manner that attempts to reduce light levels that over time would change the colour of the skins and might compromise the long-term integrity of the bones. The storage also attempts to keep the specimens away from insect pests that might eat and damage them. As a result, the dry specimens are kept in the dark, inside cabinets with a relatively good closing seal.<\/p>\n

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Small mammal dry skin cabinets without the doors on ahead of a fumigation.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

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Recently, while retrieving specimens for a visitor, staff were disturbed to find specimens within one of the cabinets covered in a thick layer of dust. On closer investigation, pulling out several more drawers, it could be seen that the back of the cabinet was broken. Judging by the level of dust, the damage to the back of the cabinet probably happened years ago. Linda Kubeka, the Collection Attendant, was then assigned the task of cleaning each drawer, tray and specimen in the cabinet, while also recording any damage. The cleaning involved gently brushing the dust off the dry specimens and information labels with a soft paint brush. The trays within the cabinet and the acid-free paper the skins lie on were also brushed free of dust, while the cabinet drawers were vacuumed.<\/p>\n

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Besides the dust Linda found several dead crickets, spiders and clothes moths amongst the specimens in the trays. Luckily none of these pests appeared to have damaged any specimens. There was, however, some damage to a few ears of the dry study skins, and one of the trays appeared to have been gnawed. Fairly distinctive droppings in the tray suggest this damage was done by a rodent.<\/p>\n

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What was found in the damaged skin cabinet: Insects on the left, rodent droppings in the middle, and loose pieces from the dry rodent skins.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

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Fortunately, the damage to the specimens was not more extensive, and in each case of an ear being damaged the alternate one of the pair was still intact. The damage that was noticed and recorded will be reported to the Heritage Asset Manager and Registrar, to be added to the audited digital record of what we know about the specimens, as well as the collection database on Specify.<\/p>\n

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Image showing the head region of three rodent study skins from the damaged cabinet. The right ear of the individual on the right has been damaged and two fragments from it are lying next to the skin in front of the middle specimen.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

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That we didn\u2019t notice this issue earlier is embarrassing and we were tempted not to publicize it in this way. Nevertheless, we felt it was important to mention this incident as it highlights the risks to collections and serves as a reminder of the importance of proper infrastructure and storage for the specimens. We have also been reminded that regular visual inspections of the collection would help detect issues earlier. Something else that would have helped, and which is now instituted with newer metal cabinets, is ensuring the cabinets are not pushed up against walls, allowing for clear visibility behind them.<\/p>\n

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[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]By: Lauretta Mahlangu & Teresa Kearney, DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History   The small mammal collection at DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History (DNMNH) represents small mammal biodiversity primarily from the southern African region and has been continually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":11490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-11485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-27 19:51:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11485"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11494,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11485\/revisions\/11494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11485"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=11485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}