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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mysticete" data-source="post: 1633943" data-attributes="member: 67784">First off:I am willing to bet that researchers that monitor any of the 4 examples you listed probably known exactly when and where birds of any of those 4 species die, because they have continual monitoring.  So if I wanted to do a big anatomical study on the kakapo, I could probably rely on animals killed in accidents or from natural causes, either captive or wild individuals.  Most animals which enter museum collections nowadays are either accidental deaths or dead zoo animals, and active collection is generally limited to areas with poor prior samplingSecondly, you make it sound like researchers go into a forest and blast ever living thing they see.  They don't.  They collected only 2 birds, of a species which only had two other specimens in existence.  BIG DEAL.  How many birds a year are killed by the locals as pests or for food?  Arguing that a prey species of the locals will be endangered by the loss of two specimens for science is ridiculous.Thirdly, I think most people have a naive viewpoint on what data you can actually collect from a few photos.  A dead specimen is useful in that you have a source for unlimited DNA/isotope analysis, you have a voucher so that other researchers can go back and double check your work, and you have a safety net should something happen to your samples.  Researchers can't "double-check" morphometric measurements on living birds released back in the wild.  Beyond that sometimes specimens, including holotypes, just are not preserved well enough to allow the type of analysis a fresh specimen can produce; some old taxidermy practices for instance damage DNA.  Also two more specimens at another museum do provide a back up in case the original specimens are either lost or destroyed.  Lastly, I am a museum based researcher.  I have done both systematic work on right whales as well as my current paleoecological work on pinnipeds.  Most of the measurements I take are impossible on living animals.  There is plenty you can learn from a dead specimen that you just can't learn from a living animal.</blockquote>

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