Pickled Chameleon

[Versagirl]

so I'm bored at work, and was browsing thru fark.com and came across the following


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...49800/Pickled-chameleon-sparks-emergency.html

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

a chameleon was in a jar?

 

[codiwatkins]

WOW!! So Im wondering if it was maybe a family pet that they wanted to hold onto........hmmm

 

[ronnie]

I seen this story today also....what kind of freak pickles a chameleon!?

 

[Syn]

 

[Chris Anderson]

what kind of freak pickles a chameleon!?

This is a very common practice to preserve animals for scientific research reasons. There are countless uses to specimens preserved in such a manner. Considering the value preserved specimens can be toward research and our future understanding of these animals, why would you assume that anyone who had the forethought to preserve a chameleon in such a way is a freak? Why not make their loss of life a benefit to something larger down the road? I've preserved any chameleons that die in my care for years now and they are extremely useful. Additionally, I have keepers and breeders all over the country who have been doing the same send me their frozen or preserved specimens for my PhD research as well. Far from freakish and extremely useful to our broader understanding of these animals.

Chris

 

[chamelisa]

Additionally, I have keepers and breeders all over the country who have been doing the same send me their frozen or preserved specimens for my PhD research as well. Far from freakish and extremely useful to our broader understanding of these animals.

Chris

You just reminded me that I owe you some.

 

[ciafardo 4]

This is a very common practice to preserve animals for scientific research reasons. There are countless uses to specimens preserved in such a manner. Considering the value preserved specimens can be toward research and our future understanding of these animals, why would you assume that anyone who had the forethought to preserve a chameleon in such a way is a freak? Why not make their loss of life a benefit to something larger down the road? I've preserved any chameleons that die in my care for years now and they are extremely useful. Additionally, I have keepers and breeders all over the country who have been doing the same send me their frozen or preserved specimens for my PhD research as well. Far from freakish and extremely useful to our broader understanding of these animals.

Chris

You took the words right out of my mouth . Chris where would the general public get formaldehyde to preserve some of our losses? I'm not sure if it's controlled because i'm aware that some geniuses smoke it

 

[jojackson]

They smoke Formaldehyde??? Pickling their brains along with the specimans!
A freind has a local snake species preserved in a jar with methylated spirit. Speciman seems reasonably well preserved, given its 30 yrs old.

 

[ronnie]

This is a very common practice to preserve animals for scientific research reasons. There are countless uses to specimens preserved in such a manner. Considering the value preserved specimens can be toward research and our future understanding of these animals, why would you assume that anyone who had the forethought to preserve a chameleon in such a way is a freak? Why not make their loss of life a benefit to something larger down the road? I've preserved any chameleons that die in my care for years now and they are extremely useful. Additionally, I have keepers and breeders all over the country who have been doing the same send me their frozen or preserved specimens for my PhD research as well. Far from freakish and extremely useful to our broader understanding of these animals.

Chris

WOOOOOW!thats a bit deep!I was only messing you know!

 

[ronnie]

What i should have said is......to me ....that's just macabre!

 

[Pure]

I used to collect male and female kitty bits. As a kid I used to help a vet friend of the family catch and fix neighborhood kitties. More reasons to not let your cat out at night if you ever expect them to keep *cough* those parts.

I also had a collection of preserved brains from various species. I just found that crap interesting.

 

[BocaJan]

For those of you who don't catch on....those are really pickles made to look like chameleons....LOL Anyone still wondering?

 

[Chris Anderson]

You just reminded me that I owe you some.

Ha, yes you do! Thats alright, I just got a shipment of specimen jars and I'm in the process of clearing freezer space so no worries.

You took the words right out of my mouth . Chris where would the general public get formaldehyde to preserve some of our losses? I'm not sure if it's controlled because i'm aware that some geniuses smoke it

To be honest, I don't think buffered formalin or ethanol is really controlled but you can check some of the biological supply companies like Fisher Scientific and see. Before being a grad student in a bio lab, I would always freeze the animals in a block of ice (fill the zip lock back with water and freeze it) to prevent freezer burn and then once in a while I would visit some biologist friends and fix them. I still freeze them in blocks of ice until I have time to fix the specimens or when I have people send me specimens, I ask them to ship them like that with some dry ice too. Formalin/formaldehyde is used to preserve the tissue but after this process is done, the specimens are stored in 70% Ethanol. The formalin/formaldehyde often washes out color and patterns of preserved specimens which is one reason why most people do not store specimens in it. Another is that it is more expensive the ethanol.

Chris