On a recent hike in the woods, the Geeklings and I happened onto the carcass of a raccoon that had died several months ago. Most people would comment, “Eeeeewwww — a skull” and continue on their way; however, as geeks, our response was, “Oooooh — a skull!”

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The raccoon skull we found was completely stripped of all flesh, so it was relatively safe to work with; however, a freshly killed animal is always an excellent source of parasites, pathogens, and other general nastiness. I strongly — strongly! — encourage you to leave alone any roadkill or other dead critters you find. And if you choose to ignore that warning, then be sure to wear gloves, safety glasses, and any other kind of protective gear you can find. Got that?

Once we had the skull home, a little Googling quickly turned up plenty of information on how to prepare and preserve skulls and other skeletal remains. I particularly like this PDF from the University of Arizona and this article at Instructables.

As mentioned in those tutorials, the first step in preservation is to completely deflesh the skull. In our case, Mother Nature had already taken care of that step for me, so we missed out on the chance to play with flesh-eating beetles. Maybe next time?

All this skull needed was a little careful cleaning with a toothbrush and soapy water:

The skull was missing a few teeth from the start, and then, during cleaning, a few more fell out. The tutorials warn that this is a common occurrence, so I was expecting it. They are easy to glue back in later, as long as you manage to avoid losing them!

Once the skull was clean, the next step was to whiten it by soaking it in a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide. H 2 O 2 is available in the first-aid section of most drug stores, and comes pre-mixed as a 3% concentration, which is fine for skull soaking. Hydrogen peroxide is caustic, so once again, be careful!

After soaking in the hydrogen peroxide for two days, our raccoon skull looked significantly nicer. The tutorials explain that it may be necessary to change the H 2 O 2 and soak the skull longer if you want it whiter. The tutorials also point out that using actual laundry bleach is a Bad Idea, since it will severely weaken the bone.

Next, we rinsed and soaked the skull in clean water for a day to get rid of the hydrogen peroxide, and then after that, let it dry in the sun for a day. By this point, it was looking great.

Once the skull was clean and dry, it was time to replace the missing teeth and repair the broken jaw. Water-soluble white glue worked well for the teeth, but the jaw required a dose of hot glue before it would hold together properly.

Once finished, we are very pleased with the final result. The online guides suggest giving the whole thing a very light coat of a spray-on acrylic sealant to protect and strengthen it, but we haven’t done that yet.

Of course, no discussion of skull cleaning and preservation would be complete without a reference to the Dirty Jobs episode in which the host, Mike Rowe, visits Skulls Unlimited in Oklahoma. YouTube has that available for your viewing enjoyment… (sorry, embedding is disabled).