People who work in museums and universities have to work with dead animals sometimes, to study their bones and to see how their bodies work. The problem they have is that these bones need to be cleaned and all the animal meat and skin removed, which is very difficult to do properly. So, they use some interesting helpers, which are called dermestid beetles.

The skeleton is left clean and the scientists can then work with the bones and do their research.

According to experts, these insects are really good for preparing skeletons, because they are happy to live at room temperature. This makes it easy for a museum to grow and keep its own beetle colony. These beetles do have wings, but there’s no danger of their escaping.

So, their colonies are easy to control.

Storing these beetles is quite easy, but the scientists need to be careful. They are kept in a hard container with smooth sides and a very tight lid.

Small bowls of water are put inside the container to make the air moist, and this is also the water the beetles drink when they are thirsty.

The beetles begin their lives when the adult beetles lay their eggs somewhere on the body of a dead animal. The eggs then hatch and the baby beetles appear. The food they eat is the dead meat they have been living in.

In this time, they grow a lot, and when they are big enough, they become adults. They are then ready to leave the group, and if it is warm enough, they fly away.

These beetles are also used by the police to investigate crimes. They may need to see how a dead person’s bone was broken. So, they use a group of these insects.

If there are enough of them, they can clean the bone in minutes. The police can then use the bones as evidence in a trial.

The Tribune