The Bug Room at the Field Museum = Awesomeness

(PHOTO: The Field Museum of Chicago)

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, but I volunteer at the bird lab in the Field Museum of Chicago, making bird study skins once a week. It’s essentially a (very) simplified form of taxidermy, and sometime I’ll tell you more about it, maybe. In the meantime, I wanted to share this fabulous video of the museum’s bug room, which is housed in the bird lab and is one of the star attractions of any behind-the-scenes tour of the Field. The bug room contains glass tanks full of Dermestid beetles, also known as flesh-eating beetles, also known as the coolest thing since sliced bread. They help to clean, more cheaply and efficiently than chemicals, bird and mammal skeletons. Check it out!

Edited to add a clearer link to the video.