Flesh-Eating Beetle Biz | God's World News

Flesh-Eating Beetle Biz

08/29/2017
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    Ken Hansen holds a Kodiak brown bear skull which he has prepared using flesh-eating beetles. (AP)
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    The prepared skull of a "truly massive" Kodiak brown bear. The shelf behind holds other cleaned and prepared skulls. (AP)
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    Ken Hansen stirs through the bedding mixture in a tray containing hundreds of the flesh-eating beetles to expose the beetles and larvae. (AP)
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    Brown bear skulls with hunters' tags. Mr. Hansen says 1,000 larvae can strip flesh from a deer skull in 10 days. (AP)
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Fleshing-eating beetles sound scary? For one Oregon business, they’re just another day at the office.

Ken Hansen owns Kodiak Bones & Bugs Taxidermy. Visitors to his shop can see the usual array of animal skulls—bear, polar bear, deer. But that’s not all.

Hansen is known as the “bug guy.” Along with the bones, he keeps dermestid beetles—hundreds of thousands of them. The bugs are on staff.

Beetle fans say dermestids don’t bite living humans and don’t carry disease. They’re not an invasive species either. They don’t damage the environment or cause problems if thrown out in the woods. (I’m talking to you, kudzu.)

However, these small members of God’s creation serve a big purpose. They perform a function most people avoid: cleanup. Dermestids eat dead, rotting flesh. Yep. Yuck.

Hansen claims dermestid beetles are experts at preparing bones and skulls for display in the “European mount” style. European mounts involve bare bones—no fur or creepy glass eyes.

To get a clean, white look, Hansen says his dermestids “do the heavy lifting.” He declares 1,000 larvae can strip the flesh off a deer skull in about 10 days.

Beetles are also gentle. They don’t scratch bones like tools can. Plus, they eliminate the oily mess, rotten smell, and damaging effects of boiling, another method of bone prepping.

Hansen spent 25 years as a game warden in Alaska. An avid hunter, he experimented with using beetles to clean animal skulls. He learned what the bugs like and how they work.

He figured out beetles don’t eat eyeballs. He also learned that removing the brains cuts down on the foul stench. But, as his website points out, “There is no getting around the fact that there may be some odor involved,” even using beetles.

Hansen’s beetle hobby turned into a business. Others wanted his beetles to clean bones for them. Hunting groups consulted him about prepping big game.

Now Hansen sells beetles around the world. Artists use beetles to scour bones for jewelry. Museum workers let dermestids do the dirty work of preparing carcasses for display. Forensic scientists use beetles too. Beetle presence can help determine time of death. Their feces can reveal the presence of poisons in eaten flesh. Beetle science has helped prove guilt or innocence in murder cases.

Today, Kodiak Bones & Bugs has moved to Oregon, and the beetle biz is booming. Ken Hansen is happy to let his bugs chew on your prize deer skull. Or he can mail you your very own box of beetles—complete with info about their care and (ugh) feeding.