SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology closed permanently on January 10th, 2020.
This week’s adventure is one I wasn’t sure about when I picked it from my ever growing list of things to write on, yet I was rather pleasantly surprised. This week brought two of my friends and I to SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology. If you haven’t heard of it, its a museum situated right beneath the Orlando Eye that exhibits-you guessed it-skeletons!
I don’t do well with creepy things. Blood, horror, gore, they just give me nightmares. Obviously, I’m not a big fan of horror movies, or even special effects that border on ultra-realistic when it comes to wounds or corpses. With that in mind, I have to admit I wasn’t exactly excited to go see a bunch of bones on display. Having said all of that up, however, let me get right to the point of this adventure – SKELETONS wasn’t anything like what I expected! To my surprise, this rather unique experience was my favorite attraction I’ve ever done on International Drive! My initial expectations were for it to be extremely small, to take hardly any time at all, and just be some displays. Imagine my surprise when I glanced at my watch and realized we had been in there for almost two hours, appreciating all of the different displays and reading all the signs. They have hundreds of skeletons, and each one comes with a detailed little plaque to tell you all about it.
The window I refused to look in.
Each exhibit section is divided by Order or Family like Carnivora or Felidae (thank you eighth grade biology), and they have almost every species represented with either a full skeleton or a skull. Lions and horses and dolphins and bears, oh my! There was even a display of domesticated dog breeds. Before you start worrying about where these real skeletons came from, they are all donated by families, zoos and research organizations after the animals (or people!) have died of natural causes. There is also a
video feed and a window where you can see how they prep the skeletons for display, but I didn’t look at that for more than a second. While it is a fascinating process, it made me feel slightly squeamish. Yet I need to reinforce a constant aspect about this museum – anything biological beyond the sterile bones is not thrust into your face. You are presented with the ability to see it through a window or video, and are never forced even with a half-glance to catch what some people might call grotesque (but scientifically speaking is just a very natural process).
Wall of dog breeds.
We happened to run into the general manager on our way out and he asked what we thought of it and what our favorite skeleton was. We got to talking about the dog breeds and he told us how he used to have a Dalmatian, and the Dalmatian skull looks just like her so he waves at her every morning when he comes in. I think it’s adorable, and it’s exactly what I would do if there had been a Bichon.
The stages of a wallaby mid-motion.
I was really surprised by how much fun I had, and how much I learned. They had a full display of a wallaby jumping made of three skeletons to show the progression, and everything from a full sized elephant to a teeny tiny sugar glider. It’s easy to talk about form and function of an animal or human body, but seeing these displays can really help with perceiving the actual physical movement. For children in Biology classes, and even for higher-learning Anatomy courses, this museum is a treasure trove of examples. After seeing the actual bone structure of a dog’s tail, I now understand why the vet had to amputate part of Comet’s tail when he broke it last spring. It is also very fascinating to compare the skeletal structure of an animal whose ‘form’ we are so familiar with. It’s very odd to consider the true size of things, such as when I looked at the Great Pyrenees skeleton and it seemed way too small. It was then I realized how much of those dogs are just fluff. The dolphin seemed huge! It was longer than I am tall, which I realize most dolphins are fairly big but I just never put it in that perspective. Seeing the rhino next to the elephant and the giraffe beside them was really cool too. It’s one thing seeing size comparisons in books but seeing them physically next to each other is so much more impressive. For scale comparison, this is much better than any zoo experience because it can put the animals into situations, such as motionless postures or standing next to other animals that they would have territorial disputes with, that you would never see in real life. Seeing the rhino and elephant side by side would be impossible with living creatures.
My favorite display was the one debunking famous myths, like how the remains of a horse and rider together were probably where centaurs came from. For fun, they had arranged the skeleton of a man and horse into a centaur configuration, surmising what could have conceivably been a hunter or scout that had been buried with his mount and their bones discovered, after decay, intermingled. Looking at the elephant skull with a fantastical eye could decidedly make it look like a cyclops, particularly to someone who had no knowledge of what an elephant’s skull looked like! I’d like to see that particular exhibit expanded in the future, as it’s fascinating what sort of myths might have been born from an ancient culture trying to explain a skeletal discovery – from deformity, to combination of the bones of animals that had died in one place. Could a people who had never seen a living creature, but discovered its bones have led to what we call dragons in modern day?
All things considered, this was definitely a place I’d like to go back to – to share it with others and appreciate the world moving underneath all of us, and particularly if they expand on their mythical section!
Cost: Gate Price is $19.99 per person.
Duration: 1.5-2.5 hours depending on how thorough you are and how fast you read.
Value: Totally worth it. I’m seriously hoping they add an annual pass.
Add Ons: None yet!
Stay up to date on all things Twenty Something in Orlando by subscribing to our newsletter or supporting us on Patreon! You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram!
