Where the wild things are
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In an unassuming corridor on campus, one little room is teeming with preserved flora and fauna.
Vials of mysterious and long-preserved creatures, shelves of taxidermy, artfully arranged skeletons—these might seem like artifacts of the past. But in the digital age, when many tangible learning tools are being shunted aside for their 2D and pixelated manifestation, what’s old might be new again. Or, new to you. At the very least, there’s something a little stunning (and, maybe, unsettling?) about hanging out in a room full of stuffed mice and mounted sheep.
Photo: Lisa Beth Anderson
Kate Doyle ’90, ’97MS is co-director of the Natural History Collections and manager of the vertebrate and non-insect invertebrate collections at UMass. Doyle has curated a dense collection of some of the most fascinating specimens UMass has to offer, available for all to see on the first floor of Morrill II.
“Digital doesn’t do you any good out in the field,” she says. While digitizing collections is a huge asset to the scientific community, it’s not a substitute for the research, educational, and outreach value of the real thing. For example, in a class Doyle teaches on mammals, students learn how to identify animals like bears and opossums from their bone structure.
One part of Doyle’s job is preparing specimens for research and exhibition. To achieve perfectly clean skeletons, she maintains a slightly-disturbing-but-scientifically-necessary colony of flesh-eating beetles that she can put to work. For larger specimens, more drastic measures must be taken.
This sperm whale skeleton, the crown jewel of the exhibit, washed up on a beach near Boston, Mass. In order to clean it up, she borrowed a pen in the woods normally used by a forensic bioarcheology class to stage crime scenes. She covered the carcass with sawdust, which made a welcoming environment for native bugs and helped to absorb oil in the bones, and let nature do its thing.
The Morrill exhibit won’t stay the same forever—Doyle is committed to keeping it fresh for visitors. So, if you see something that catches your eye, don’t wait to stop by. Learn more about visiting here.
Photos: Lisa Beth Anderson
We’re on the lookout
Share your most intriguing nooks, niches, coordinates, or curiosities on campus or anywhere in the region. Email magazine@umass.edu and we’ll investigate!