CSIRO Australian National Wildlife Collection shares story of evolving birds
Submitted by Chickowee on 15 Mar 2016.
In Gil Pfitzner's expert hands a tiny bar-breasted honeyeater weighing no more than 10 grams is prepared to join a comprehensive collection of Australian birds.
A preparator at the CSIRO's Australian National Wildlife Collection at Gungahlin, Mr Pfitzner cleans the honeyeater's grey feathers by blowing pressurised air through them. He turns the skin inside out, removing fat to freeze for future research, along with its tiny organs.Gil Pfitzner works on a preserving a small bar-breasted honeyeater.
Over the coming centuries, the little bird, along with tens of thousands of other specimens similarly prepared, will have more stories to reveal. Science is continually discovering ways to uncover mother nature's secrets and the ever changing story of evolution.
