If you want to see it in video, check out The Brain Scoop channel on YouTube and look for the series on processing the wolf. Informative and entertaining.
Elizabeth
-----Original Message-----
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Deb Bennett
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2014 1:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] Skinning Technique
Eve, thanks for your nice note. Yes, my apparent curmudgeonliness is entirely motivated by my desire to see students and anybody else who gets into this, be successful.
Since you asked for help with skinning: you can skin just as well with a no. 11 X-Acto blade as with a scalpel, and I like the X-Acto blades better as you can re-sharpen them if you have a grinder fitted with a sharpening wheel. Buy a handle and a box of a dozen blades and you're set for the next year.
To begin skinning, you make a lengthwise split right down the center of the animal's belly. Pick up a pinch of skin/fur between thumb and forefinger, and snip this with a scissors. Then insert the knife into the slit while holding the skin up, i.e. stretching it away from the body.
This will allow you to get the tip of the knife into the skin and immediate subdermal layers without cutting the intestinal tube.
|