Flesh-Eating Beetles

Ever wonder how a dead animal becomes a museum-quality specimen? Carcasses can be buried in the ground or soaked in water, but those are long, slow processes that take weeks or even months. At the Academy, scientists also use dermestid beetle larvae—the smallest stars of Skulls. Peer into one of several windows to watch them munch the dried flesh off animal bones, diligently and delicately transforming skulls into specimens. When these carnivorous larvae are most active—in a dark, warm environment with plenty to eat—they can scour the flesh from a small skull in just three days.