The skeletal collection has increased significantly in numbers after the implementation of a law in 1970 that required certain species of e.g. raptors and owls, to be sent to the museum when found dead. We also have an ongoing exchange program with other international museums allowing us to receive specimens of species not occurring in Sweden.Besides its use within systematic and taxonomy, the collection is also commonly utilized by e.g. ecologist's analyzing pellets of raptors and owls, archaeozoologists determining bird bones recovered from archaeological deposits and paleozoologists.
After the initial cleaning of the carcass, it is placed in a container with larvae of tropical beetle (Dermestes sp.) that has proven to be a particularly hungry breed. The larvae eat the skeleton of a medium-sized bird almost clean in a few days. The remaining tissue is manually cleaned and the specimen is labelled, put in plastic bags and deposited in the collection. We do not bleech the bones.
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