Preparation of mammal skulls

CC image of 'naturally cleaned' badger skull, by Spixey

If you're lucky, you'll find a skull that's white and clean, lying in the corner of a field and smelling of beautiful fresh air. A couple of years ago I happened upon a deer skeleton - some wretch had already pinched the skull but I was quite pleased to pocket a few vertebrae for their sculptural interest.

But otherwise, you've got a stinky and not entirely pleasant task on your hands.

I recommend Will's Skull Site for expert advice, so do start by reading that page.

Supposing you're starting with a disembodied head from some roadkill (we'll gloss over how you separated the head, and thank god that rabies isn't rife in the UK) - what are your options?

In an ideal world you'd have time to bury it, or leave it in a container that flies and beetles could get into.... somewhere well away from civilised society so you couldn't smell it... and then you'd come back later and the creatures would have done their work. You've probably not got time for this, and it won't help that you're trying to do it in the winter.

Will suggests removing as much flesh as possible. And scrambling the brains if they can't easily be removed. (I helped a student to do this once. I may not be volunteering again. You can see that this may not be a suitable collection choice for everyone).

Museums use dermestes (dermestid) beetles to help remove the rest. You can buy a small colony and as they tuck in to your specimen, the colony will slowly grow. They're quite easy to look after. But they don't like to get too cold. The problem is, there will be the most unholy stink, even with the tiniest skull. So it's not possible to keep them indoors (museums have special sealed containers and I'd guess that even then there are complaints) - you'd need some sort of outbuilding. I made myself unpopular by allowing a student to keep them in the undercroft at the university. I can't see this happening again.

An alternative you can boil up your skull - again, not a process that is going to make you popular with the neighbours - and you can use the enzymes in washing powders to try and remove the grease that will settle into the bone.

Another option is cold water maceration. It's slow - and you've guessed it, it stinks. You can read all about it, along with other very useful information, in this document by the University of Arizona and also on Jana Miller's site.

Having said all this, a collection of skulls does look very cool. And there's a lot of information online for those that are keen. But I for one still cannot shake the smell of those skulls of previous years out of my nose.

Dermestes beetles cleaning skulls for a commercial company. I can almost smell them from here. CC image by JimJones1971

I've recently found a blog with some very interesting insights into skull and skeleton form and function called Zygoma, which you'll probably enjoy reading (even if it generally refers to rather exotic specimens!).

What's In John's Freezer is another very interesting site (if you don't mind a bit of gore with your bones).

Young Jake has a page about cleaning bones too. His blog is full of useful advice on preparing skulls and identifying them.

(Return to the main list of mammal methods)