Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Museum welcomes flesh-eating bugs

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

What's at Taph?

Taphophilia Home

Thanatology Forums

Taphophile Weblinks

Taph's Article Archive

Contact Deadgirl

Donating to Taphophilia

Book Library

Deadgirl Recommends

Dig Deeper

Literature

Topics at Taphophilia

Deadgirl's Dictionary

Cemetery Photography

Industry News

Carved in Stone

A Taphophilia Thank You...

Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From
its conception and early development, DarkestWeb
was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Cemetery Snapshot

Announcements

Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!

Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Museum welcomes flesh-eating bugs

Written by DeadGirl
Thursday, 26 August 2004
London's Natural History Museum has taken custody of 100 flesh-eating beetles which will be used to strip animal carcasses down to bare bones. Scientists come from around the world to study the museum's collections of animal skeletons. The beetles are to work on specimens sitting in museum freezers that are earmarked for de-fleshing. The 10mm-long carrion beetles are better at preserving bone and collagen than chemical cleaning methods. They can be kept at 25C, but with high humidity to stop them from eating their own eggs. Although the museum has been supplied with an initial colony of 100 beetles and beetle larvae, this number is expected to grow to 1,000. "They aren't the most conventional colleagues but they do work very hard," said Patrick Campbell, curator at the museum. When the group is established they will get through about two to four kg of flesh a week Patrick Campbell, Natural History Museum "The larvae will eat the most and when the group is established they will get through about two to four kg of flesh a week." Colonies live and work in a climate-controlled "bug room" called a dermestarium. The beetles, which belong to the species (Dermestes maculatus), have been used for decades by museums to strip away the flesh from carcasses so the skeletons can be studied. Out to lunch Using beetles to clean carcasses of their flesh and hide allows every aspect of the bone to be preserved. In the past, chemical agents such as hydrogen peroxide and carbon tetrachloride were used for the same purpose. But these strong chemicals penetrate bones, making them fragile and destroying the molecular information they held. The bugs are commonly found in roadkill They also strip bare hard-to-reach parts fo the skeleton that were previously impossible for preparators to clean. By letting the beetles do the work, the bones and collagen are not changed in any way, allowing scientists to gather information about an animal's age, distribution and feeding patterns. Researching the skeletal structure of animals can also help identify new species. Farewell to the flesh However, because the insects will eat virtually anything in their path, they will have to be kept under tight security well away from the museum's collections of stuffed animals and skins. Skeletons removed from the dermestarium will be frozen and cleaned before moving to other parts of the Museum, to ensure the beetles are not accidentally transferred to the collections. However, the bugs generally leave dried blood, feathers and fur well alone. The beetles will initially be set to work on an orange roughy fish (Hoplostethus atlanticus), a long-tailed fruit bat (Notopteris macdonaldi) from the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu and a rare Norwegian puffin hound (Canis familiaris). The beetles were supplied to the museum by the Central Science Laboratory. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3597928.stm

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

SEO by Artio

Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

Taphophiles Speak

Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
	entombment
	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

Quote Repository

“It is a time when one's spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death.”

Mark Twain