Museum gets 'seal' of approval

Can you see the large Grey Seal in the photo below? It looks alive doesn't it but it's dead. It was stuffed and put on display at Colchester and Ipswich Museum so people could learn more about it...

But in the photo, the Grey Seal is not in the museum. So what happened?

The Grey Seal is actually being transported back to its home in the first floor gallery of the museum.

Why? Because it had to be rescued after bugs and other pesky mini-beasts nearly ate and destroyed it!

Picture courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museum

So how do you think the experts at the museum saved the Grey Seal?

Well, as soon as staff discovered that the taxidermy (stuffed) seal had become infested with beetles and moths, they had to act quickly.

The seal was removed from display and taken to a large walk-in freezer that is part of the museum.

It was then frozen for 10 days at minus 40 degrees centigrade.

This was to kill all the insects that had infected the seal. Museum staff didn't want to use chemical sprays because they could harm the seal exhibit in the long term.

Why not have a look at our Get stuffed: Show Me's guide to taxidermy to find out more about stuffed animals?

Or check out our How do you wash a stuffed dog? story about the cleaning of the stuffed animals at Tring Museum?



Picture © NHM

Have you got a photo of you with a stuffed animal? Get in touch! and we'll show other Show Me surfers...