Alcohol House

Jasper and I were super lucky to get an inside tour of the Alcohol House, which is a 3 story building that is part of the Carnegie museums complex. We've been to the museums and main library many times, and have been using the parking lot and Portal Entrance, so we have probably seen the Alcohol House over and over again without having any idea what we were looking at.

The museum was founded in 1896, and the building constructed in 1907 specifically to house this collection of herpetological specimens. The collection contains almost a quarter of a million reptiles and amphibians from all over the world preserved in alcohol,  some of which are 120 years old, and the collection is still growing.

Why alcohol? Because it's really the very best method of preservation for these animals. Freezing eventually gives them "freezer burn". Taxidermy doesn't work well, especially for amphibians. With ethanol, every delicate feature of the animals is preserved with minimal degradation over time. The most obvious quality that suffers is that the original pigments are lost, so snakes and poison dart frogs that were once eye-poppingly colorful are now drab. But their DNA is intact, and they are an inestimable treasure for research in countless ways. This collection is one of the finest in the country, and is in big demand among scientists. 

Of particular value is the fact that they often have multiple specimens of the same species over time. They can observe how damage to the ecosystem is causing a species to grow noticeably leaner, as its food supply diminishes. The evidence for the harmful effects of climate change are undeniable. For example, a recent study of sea turtle hatchlings in Australia revealed that 99% of them were female. Reptiles often have "temperature dependent sex determination", which means that at a particular point in the development of an embryo, the sex of the animal is determined by the temperature of the egg. Warmer temperatures make eggs female. This alone has the potential to cause a mass extinction of many reptiles. The Alcohol House currently has samples of 5 species of animals that have become completely extinct, and another 78 that are critically endangered. 

The Alcohol House collection needs help. They need to install a modern HVAC system, because the building is currently heated but not air conditioned, and does not have proper ventilation. In the summer it can get hot in there, which is uncomfortable for anyone working there. But what's worse is that it causes the ethanol to evaporate, which can't be good to breathe, and it also causes fluid levels in the jars to drop. They are proud to have recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation that is helping them to replace gasket seals on the jars, replace jars as needed and digitize their collection, among many other improvements. But it won't come close to what they really require. They want to let people know about the Alcohol House and how amazing it is! So they'd also like to offer more public tours. That would require that they have emergency signage and alarms. We entered the Alcohol House through the museum's main administration offices, which isn't at all convenient for regular tours. They plan to install an exhibit soon within the museum to tell people about the Alcohol House so that visitors will know what a treasure we have here in Pittsburgh. There's more about the Alcohol house here: https://carnegiemnh.org/alcohol-house-improvements/ and here: https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/environment/a-look-inside-the-alcohol-house-carnegie-museum-of-natural-historys-best-kept-secret/.

Kaylin Martin, Curatorial Assistant, showed us some of the critters from inside
the specimen tanks. This is the head of an alligator snapping turtle.

A softshell turtle.

Specimen tanks on the first floor.

A eastern hellbender salamander, the Pennsylvania State Amphibian.