In pictures: How skeleton crew at University of Cambridge’s Museum of Zoology brushed up on their exhibits
If you notice that all of the exhibits at the University of Cambridge’s Museum of Zoology are looking even smarter than usual, then that’s probably because a team of very careful and very thorough cleaners went to work when the doors were closed earlier this month.
Patricia Harnett, the communications co-ordinator at the museum, said: “It was our annual maintenance closure. We get a team of experts in to clean the whales. That’s partly why we had to close – because they bring in loads of scaffolding.”
Some of the whale skeletons that were cleaned last week include the fin whale in the Whale Hall, the orca, the bottle-nosed whale, the narwhal, which has two protruding tusks – rather than the typical one – the Gray’s beaked whale, and the pygmy right whale. It was the first time that the skeltons in the roof of the main gallery have been cleaned since the museum reopened after redevelopment.
The rhino was the job of Sam Ruggiero-Cakir, the museum’s education assistant.
Meanwhile, Jack Ashby, the museum’s assistant director, was tasked with cleaning the teeth of the Southern hairy-nosed wombat.
By funny coincidence, he was wearing a wombat T-shirt that day.
Jack said: “As part of our maintenance programme, we undertake a thorough clean of the museum, which includes bringing in an expert team to clean the six whales that are on display.
“Cambridge’s largest object, our fin whale, hangs in the museum’s Whale Hall, and the five other whales are suspended high above the museum galleries, including the incredibly rare double-tusked narwhal.
“The museum team also get involved in the project – from cleaning specimens such as the giraffe, wombat and rhinoceros, using special cleaning brushes and checking each specimen as they go.”
Patricia added: “We are closed every Monday, so that is our day where we check everything and move things around. But because this is a bigger job, particularly with having the experts come in and put the scaffolding up, we have to clean for the whole week.”
