During the move, Te Papa lead technician Mark Fenwick commented, "To my touch, the arms are now firm and don't 'give' in the way they did when we first defrosted her." He added, "I have this irrational fear that she might come to life at any moment!" Fenwick's fears were unwarranted, as the squid tank transfer went without a hitch. The team drained the formalin solution from the old tank and rinsed and soaked the squid with water. They then donned waders and actually climbed into the tank to turn the specimen by hand in order to ready it for hoisting. A large, heavy duty plastic sheet was passed under the specimen, which was then lifted by gantry hoist from the fixing tank to the display tank, which is now slowly being filled with a propylene glycol solution that includes a bacteria, mold and fungi-preventing biocide. The squid will remain in this new tank in Te Papa's specimen preparation facility awaiting a planned December public exhibit. "The delay is due to the time needed for preparation of the display, including preparing mounts for the specimen in the tank and trial of the glycol preservation process," Marshall explained. The team of "squid movers" seemed tense when the move first began but, fueled by chocolate bars, they began to relax throughout the successful process. A comment made by Te Papa conservator Robert Clendon summed up the researchers' palpable relief. As he said, "the now-preserved squid is much easier than we thought to move." Related Links: Discovery News blog: Born Animal |
advertisement
Put Discovery News on Your Site!
|
-
our sites
-
video
mobile
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
