November 8, 2012 11:54 am
Watch These Beetles Tear the Feathers off a Parrot
Image: Natural History Museum
Sometimes you just want a skeleton. Especially if you’re a museum. So how do you get the meat off the bones of an animal? Well, if you’re the Natural History Museum in London, beetles, apparently. This process is less gross than it sounds:
The museum places specimens into a box full of Dermestes haemarrhoidalis, beetles who go to work and strip away feathers and meat from an animal’s body. Want to see it live? Check out the Natural History Museum’s live cam.
More from Smithsonian.com:
When Beetles Ate Dinosaurs
Why Are Museum Specimens Bugged?
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