Skeletons as Decor

No, I’m not talking about a photo of your favorite celebrity! I’m talking about taxidermy, people, taxidermy!

My fellow blogger, Michelle at Scribbit, recently bewailed her husband’s new mantelpiece conversation piece: a whale vertebra given to him as a “gift.”

Uh huh. Men.

The vertebra is a pale gray color. The man intends to whiten the bone with bleach (and a toothbrush, no doubt). It made me snicker, because I had recently visited my dad’s home, and in his office were three proudly displayed deer skulls. The skulls were as white as snow. Beautiful, in a weird and unusual sort of way.

He had told my sons (listening so intently with that deer-skull fascination inherent to the male gender) the gory stories about his hunting expedition. When he bagged these big buck babies, he shipped the deer heads to a company in Oklahoma, for mounting. (Yes! Fed Ex ships beheaded deer!) (The heads had been frozen solid and drained of “fluids.” Ick ick ick!)

This company in Oklahoma, Skulls Unlimited, uses dermestid beetles. The beetles eat the flesh and leave the skull pearly white. They get into every crevice, too, not wasting a single bite of raw meat. Mmm. You can visit the website and view quite a collection of ghoulish skeletons made white by these carnivorous beetles. There’s a whale skeleton, too! I’m tickled that they have an “education” section for the kids.

I don’t know if it’s too late for Michelle’s unbleached whale bone to go under the eating-beetles therapy. I suspect it is. Well, now you’re all the wiser for next time!