Warning: the following video contains graphic scenes that may not be suitable for younger viewers.
You may see a few skeletons walking about once a year on Halloween night, but a colony of voracious flesh eating beetles at the University of Texas at Austin are busy every night turning roadkill into one of the spookiest collections on campus. Tour the Skeletal Preparation Laboratory and learn how this centuries old technique continues to yield new information for paleontologists and biologists.
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Jamie, there are many variables that affect how fast the beetles work, including temperature, humidity and types of animals. Even on the same specimen, some body parts go fast, others go slow. The hawk that I followed in this video took 5 or 6 weeks. But sometimes the beetles can pick a specimen clean in just a week or two. Keeping the beetles happy is as much art as it is science.
Wow that is really amazing and interesting, thanks for the video!