When it comes to preparing animal skeletons for museum display, conservators must choose between several methods: chemicals, enzymes to dissolve the remaining flesh, or deploying a colony of dermestid beetles to devour them. But researchers based in Iran and Germany are proposing a solution that is both less expensive and less risky for the bones: giant mealworms, reports the journal Gizmodo.
The larvae are particularly effective as skeleton cleaners. A few hours are sometimes enough for insects to accomplish their work, both on the corpses of bats and on those of large wolves. “Giant mealworms are really fast compared to traditional methods, they are more environmentally friendly, and caring for them is extremely simple”explains Niloofar Alaei Kakhki, co-author of the study.
More effective, less risky
The skeletal specimens are “essentials” to museums, the study details: they fulfill an educational and scientific function, both for experts and for the general public. Researchers must do everything possible to preserve their complex anatomical structures before exposing them. The enzymes or chemical treatments used by scientists are often costly and potentially harmful to the most fragile bones.
This could change the way the world’s largest museums operate, such as the Natural History Museum in London, or the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington. Biological cleaning using dermestid beetles poses some problems: the critters may escape or leave behind undetected eggs, “so many risks likely to threaten museum collections”write the researchers.
On the contrary, giant mealworms, if kept in large numbers, remain in the larval state and do not transform into adult beetles, which avoids any risk of escape or reproduction likely to infest the museum’s collections. They are also commonly used as animal food, making them cheap and easily accessible.
As for their cleaning abilities, the team’s intuition proved right. By testing different populations of worms on animals of different sizes, the researchers were able to determine an ideal ratio for this type of cleaning. According to the article, that’s about 10 to 15 grams of giant mealworms for every gram of carcass. You are now informed.
“Unlike traditional chemical methods or dermestid beetle colonies, this approach preserves delicate bones, is environmentally friendly, reduces the risk of infestation for museum collections and greatly simplifies e“maintenance of colonies for museums”concludes the team in a press release.
