Zoological specimen

[1] The skin is removed from the animal's carcass, treated with absorbents, and filled with cotton or polyester batting (In the past plant fibres or sawdust were used).

Osteological collections consist of cleaned, complete and partial skeletons, crania of Vertebrates, mainly birds and mammals.

The study of dry mollusc shells is called conchology as distinct from malacology (wet specimens).

Either while still fresh, or after rehydrating them if necessary because they had dried out, specimens are transfixed by special stainless steel entomological pins.

The pins offer a means of handling the specimens without damage, and they also bear labels for descriptive and reference data.

The bottoms of the trays are lined with a material suited to receiving and holding entomological pins securely and conveniently.

However, open trays are very vulnerable to attack by museum beetle and similar pests, so such open trays are stored in turn inside glass-topped, insect-proof drawers, commonly protected by suitable pesticides or repellents or barriers.

Small specimens, whether hard or soft bodied, and whether entire, dissected, or sectioned, may be stored as microscope slide preparations.

[6] Modern specimens are stored in borosilicate glass due to its chemical and thermal resistance and good optical clarity.

An example would be a vertebrate with an alcohol-preserved skin and viscera, a cleared and stained head, the post-cranial dried skeleton, histological, glass slides of various organs, and frozen tissue samples.