
About this episode
ALERT: There’s a top secret crew cleaning up the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Meet nature’s tiniest janitors - dermestid beetles!
These incredible insects have the grossest (but coolest) job ever: they eat away all the flesh from animal specimens, leaving behind pristine bones for scientists to study. We're going through a maze of the museum to get a behind the scenes to check out thousands of these beetles.
Psssst! Get in on the fun:
-
Grab our free activity book: https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/Spectacular-Specimens
-
Text ‘spectacular’ to 206-926-9955 to join our Text Club
-
And you can share your Big Think, drawings, and thoughts with us at [email protected]
Spectacular Specimens is made possible by KUOW Public Radio in Seattle in collaboration with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Support more episodes at https://www.kuow.org/donate/spectacularspecimens/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Spectacular Specimens publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Spectacular Specimens

Pssst! We're going inside the Museum for 'Spectacular Specimens'
Spectacular Specimens

Sea Otters: Fierce Behind the Fluff
Spectacular Specimens

A 66-Million-Year-Old Mystery
Spectacular Specimens

Performing Nightly: The Mysterious, Marvelous Bat
Spectacular Specimens