ISU Taxidermy, Articulation, and Preservation Society

This past weekend TAPS participated in the first annual NREM olympics. They got 1st place in tug-of-war and 2nd place in trivia! Thank you for those who came and participated!

Welcome back everyone, we hope your semester has been fantastic! As is tradition, the NREM Tree is up in Sci 2 and this year we offered "Zombie Beaver" as the club's decorative touch! Please enjoy some photos from some projects we've been working on so far this year!

Recent photo dump of fun photos from recent meetings to let you know we are meeting on Friday again! Come join the fun! 4:30pm in Sci2 128

Just wanting to let everyone know that we will not be meeting tomorrow Friday October 13th.

We will see everyone next week!

TW: Blood and specimen peep.

We had a cool experience working on this large Burmese python who was donated to Iowa State last night. Thanks everyone who came out and helped us. Next steps for this guy is to tan the skin and process the bones for articulation!

Join TAPS as we prepare a large python for taxidermy and articulation! We will meet at 5pm in Sci 2, Room 128 on Friday! All are welcome to join, no experience required!

Sewing is more important than you'd think! Come learn more about stitching up your work and make it seamless!

Science hall 2, room 128 at 5pm!

Here's a little break from your Monday! What is the point of a study skin and what can we learn from them?

The short answer? "All kinds of stuff." -Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Krista Fahy, Ph.D at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. As scientists consider the future and ask all kinds of questions, study skins and specimens are extremely helpful in looking at diversity of the past, genetics of a species, and even allow us to look back at species who are no longer around. With today's technology the possibilities are endless!

Iowa State is home to a number of collections (some containing study skins) including the life sciences collection, which contains zoology, botany, microbiology, physiology, and biochemistry specimens.

For more cool info check out the article about
At https://www.sbnature.org/publications/blog/2/posts/59/not-just-a-pretty-face-why-museums-need-study-skins

Pictured: skins being prepped at Beecher Collections Laboratory in April 2023.

Who's ready for Friday!? We will be learning about the process of prepping skins for the ISU scientific collection and you'll have the chance to do your own study skin mouse. If you're going to attend please let us know by filling out our supplies survey at https://forms.gle/KtuVfPEms3s9BsEz8

Hey Everyone, due to scheduling conflicts and the coming 3day weekend we have to push our first meeting to next Friday. It's OK though because we know we will "cat"ch you all then! Get it...no?... ok...

Join us tonight 4/21 to make some colorful fun! A special guest may be swinging by too!

4pm in sci2 see ya there!

April 17th is Bat Appreciation Day! Today we are showing off a neat taxidermy display from of a little brown bat and the amount of insects they eat! Taxidermy displays like this not only allow us to study features of creatures we don't usually get to meet up close, but also help us see what their impact on our lives can truly be. Microbats like those in Iowa (including the little brown bat), provide free pest control with some studies listing their monetary value between 1 to 3 BILLION dollars worth of pest control for Midwestern farmers! To learn more about bats in Iowa fly on over to https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/wildlife/bats-iowa