UVM Natural History Museum Specimen Accessioning and Skinning
McSweeney, Ellie
McSweeney, Ellie
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Abstract
At the UVM Natural History Museum, our job is to create and preserve specimens to understand change. The museum can use the specimens to see the change of species throughout time and even rediscover new or thought to be extinct species. I am looking at both the old specimens and creating new ones. Creating new specimens, species like Peromyscus and Blarina brevicauda, has let me gain the knowledge of skinning and preparing a specimen for the museum, but also has allowed me to contribute to future research that can be done about these species. Accessioning Tamiasciurus hudsonicus will allow more scientists and researchers to access this important information that the museum holds in the cabinets waiting to be discovered and used for studies. Accessioning the red squirrels will further the research of this species, mostly in Vermont, from the 1970s to 2016. Using the information like size, weight, and where they were found, we can piece together what the species looked like in the 1970s and how they have changed. Using this knowledge, we can predict how climate change will impact the species. Adding more data to that through my skinning and specimen preparation will further research into how these species look now and how that may have changed in prior years. The museum offers a look into the specimens and their past, but it can also let us see how the future may look.
Description
Date
1/1/2026
Student Status
Senior (Graduating in 2026)
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Poster
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Program/Major
Sustainability Ecology and Policy
College/School
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources
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Life Science