FAQ's

• How did you collect these specimens?
• How do you preserve the specimens?
• Why do you use the complicated scientific names? Isn’t the common name simpler?
• What’s missing from these kits?

How did you collect these specimens?

Plants: Most were collected from Couran Cove, with the help of the Resort’s environment officers. We had to get special permission from the Environmental Protection Authority to collect mangroves because they are totally protected in Queensland. We took small samples from widely spaced plants to minimise the damage.

Vertebrates: We didn’t go hunting! These are animals that have been found dead and given to the Museum, most often by environmental officers or wildlife carers. For example, when a dead dolphin was found on the beach at South Stradbroke Island, Couran Cove Resort’s environment manager asked if we’d like it. It was moved to a secluded spot to decompose until we could go and collect some of the skeleton.

There were several species we’d like to have included in the kits but specimens didn’t become available. Some are very rare, others just don’t happen to die where people find them.

Invertebrates: Because populations of invertebrates are much greater, we are able to collect small numbers of specimens without significant effect on local numbers. Most of the insects came from the Museum's entomology collection.

How do you preserve the specimens?

Vertebrates:

The Museum keeps vertebrates in the scientific collection in three ways:

• whole organism in alcohol
• study skins
• skeletal material
  • Alcohol allows the entire specimen to be kept, including internal organs, however we are not able to include specimens in jars of alcohol in a travelling loans kit
  • A study skin is a more convenient way to provide access to specimens. The animal’s skin is carefully removed, cleaned and placed in tanning solution. Then it is loosely stuffed with cotton and sewn together. This is not the same as the full taxidermy used for display, where animals are mounted in lifelike positions and given glass eyes
  • Skeletal material is also kept, particularly for large animals like whales when we can’t preserve them in alcohol or keep a skin. Sometimes a whole skeleton is prepared, more often just a skull is kept for reference. Small skeletons are cleaned by our dermestid beetles.

Insects:

Because insects have an exoskeleton, most adults are able to be kept as dried specimens. They are usually pinned in position while they dry. Soft-bodied larvae may shrivel up when dried, so for some specimens we used freeze-drying.

Plants:

Most plants were pressed between sheets of paper and dried, the traditional way to preserve botanical specimens. Some fruits and leaves shrivel up to almost nothing when dried so we used the freeze-drier to help them keep their shape and some of their colour.

Why do you use the complicated scientific names? Isn’t the common name simpler?

Living things often have several different common names, for example the seashell Donax deltoides is known by some people as a Pipi and others call it a Eugarie. Podargus strigoides is a Tawny Frogmouth but many people call it a Mopoke or a Frogmouth Owl (it’s not an owl). Birds that migrate may have a different name in every country they visit.

So there can be no confusion, every plant and animal discovered and described by science has one, and only one, scientific name. This was all started by a gentleman named Carl von Linne (or Linnaeus), a Swedish physician. In 1735 he wrote a book called Systema Nature where he described his classification system using Latin as the standard language. His system of classification is still used today with some modifications.

What’s missing from these kits?

There are several interesting South Stradbroke organisms we’d like to have included but could not obtain specimens:

Water Mouse

This cute little creature is so rare and endangered that even if we did find a specimen it would have gone straight to the Museum’s scientific collection. Queensland Museum researchers have been monitoring populations of Water Mice around Coomera, but they are increasingly hard to find.

Sundew (Drosera binata)

A carnivorous plant that lives in Stradbroke Island wetlands. It lives in low nutrient anoxic soils so it gains nutrients by catching insects in the sticky hairs that cover its stem.

Miridae sp.

This bug is 'kleptoparasitic' - a thieving parasite! It is able to live on Sundews without being caught by the plant’s sticky hairs and it feeds on insects trapped by plant.

Wandering Albatross

There was no way we could fit these magnificent creatures into the kits, even if we could have obtained specimens. However, here’s a fascinating story of one that was found by Couran Cove Resort staff – Wandering Albatross

Acid Frogs

The swamps on North and South Stradbroke Islands can become quite acidic (low pH). These frogs have adapted to this environment that would kill many species. Frogs specimens are difficult to display. They can be stored in alcohol, but can not be kept as study skins or freeze-dried and their skeletons are very fragile. When the Museum includes them in displays they usually make casts.