ALERT: There’s a top secret crew cleaning up the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Meet nature’s tiniest janitors - dermestid beetles! 

These incredible insects have the grossest (but coolest) job ever: they eat away all the flesh from animal specimens, leaving behind pristine bones for scientists to study. We're going through a maze of the museum to get a behind the scenes to check out thousands of these beetles.

Psssst! Get in on the fun:

• Grab our free activity book: https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/Spectacular-Specimens

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• And you can share your Big Think, drawings, and thoughts with us at spectacular@kuow.org

Spectacular Specimens is made possible by KUOW Public Radio in Seattle in collaboration with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Support more episodes at https://www.kuow.org/donate/spectacularspecimens/