A Questionnaire on Bird Specimens Kept in Schools

Abstract

To survey the present state of bird specimens kept in schools, we conducted a questionnaire in 2003 and 2004. Two methods were used: questionnaires were mailed directly to 1,958 schools, mainly public senior high schools founded before 1946, and prefectural boards of education and the questionnaire was placed on the website of our institute. A total of 984 schools replied, among which 495 kept bird specimens. In most cases the number of specimens they kept was less than 50, but a small number of schools kept more than 100 specimens. Mounted birds were the most common type of bird specimens in school collections. In a fairly large number of schools, specimens were identifiable to species from the labels or by teachers, but information of the capture locality and/or date were almost lacking. In more than 60% of the schools, specimens were preserved fairly well, whereas nearly half of the schools had damaged specimens. Following the categories of the Threatened Wildlife of Japan-Red Data Book-Vol. 2, Aves (2002, Ministry of the Environment ed.), At least 35 specimens of Nipponia nippon categorized as “Extinct in the Wild”, seven species categorized as “Critically Endangered” including 12 Ciconia boyciana and five Ketupa blakistoni, 12 species categorized as “Endangered” and 26 species categorized as “Vulnerable” were among the bird specimens listed. Twenty-eight per cent of the schools having specimens intended to discard their specimens in the near future, but a half of the schools had the intention to donate their specimens to proper institutes or museums if such organizations required them.