From this morning’s paper, a visit to Work Case 82B (sub/ad req) at the University of New Mexico’s Museum of Southwestern Biology, where they keep that which has gone extinct:

The Carolina parakeet on the top shelf of Work Case 82B, green with a dingy red head, looks little different from the other 30,000 stuffed birds in the research collection at the Museum of Southwestern Biology.

The most noticeable difference — the case is locked.

The special care needed in curating and caring for the Carolina parakeet and the other residents of Work Case 82B is, from a museum management perspective, entirely practical.

“You can’t get new ones,” said Andy Johnson, collections manager of the bird collection at the University of New Mexico research museum.