Remains of the last Tasmanian tiger found in a museum closet

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Originally published at: Remains of the last Tasmanian tiger found in a museum closet | Boing Boing

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Well, this gives them (maybe) some actual genetic material to work with.

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What is it with museums and closets? This sort of thing seems to happen all the time!

Are museum staff disproportionately affected by a phobia about opening them from time to time?

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Well, when you’re chronically short on funds, have to accept every offering that comes your way, have to accept staff that the wealthy BOD members insist you take on despite lack of qualifications or interest in actually doing the job, and have a building that itself is a historical structure with doors that have been painted over or left locked so long they’re impossible to open without damage, yes.

I volunteer at the local museum and the crap the staff has to put up with is insane. While doing the cleanup after a storm I found an entire locked outbuilding (an old steel shed) that had collapsed – it was filled with old farm equipment that obviously had never been touched since it was stored in there. Tons of rusty, still caked with dirt from the 1950s tractors and who knows what, all piled on top of each other and now supporting the roof. Nobody I talked to about it even knew the stuff was there, or what to do with it other than to get some tarps over it before it got even more damaged.

Oh, and if you want to make your local museum very happy, ask about volunteering. You may end up raking the lawns occasionally, but that’s $20/hour that can go to their mission of inspiration, preservation, and documentation.

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Everything @blackanvil said!

Lost things I personally have found in museum corners and closets:

  • a hippopotamus stomach in a custom made stainless steel container
  • clouds of loose asbestos
  • the first nylon camping equipment (from one of the later Brooke Dolan expeditions to Tibet)
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After all the shit that started happening in 2019 I think they’re being a little more cautious about opening things…

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… smells like victory :triumph:

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