The Active Historian

CONTENT WARNING: This blog posts contains pictures of animal skeletons from the Skeletons Museum of Osteology.

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a humpback whale looked like? What about a toucan? Today, we’re looking at an osteology museum in Oklahoma City that answers those questions!

Museum History

Jay Villemarette is the founder of Skulls Unlimited which sells “natural bone and replica osteological specimens.” One of his dreams was to open a Museum of Osteology to teach people about skeletons. This dream came true in October 2010!

Skeletons the Museum of Osteology is the biggest private collection of osteological specimens in the entire world. They have a cool blog which explores some of your pressing osteological questions HERE!

All of the skeletons in the collection are real unless otherwise noted with a red dot. The skeletons with a red dot are replicas that are based on the real specimens.

Let’s go look at a handful of examples!

Then vs Now

I first visited this museum when I was in junior high and let’s just say that my camera skills and camera quality have come a LONG way since then. I thought it’d be cool to compare what the museum looked like then to what it looks like now!

The pictures on the left were taken over a decade ago and the pictures on the right were taken in September 2023.

The museum had definitely made some changes since I was last there. There’s a kids activity corner on the second floor, all of the cases are painted in bright colors and habitat pieces have been added to make it seem more authentic to the natural environment. I thought it was very well-done!

Something you might not know about me is that turtles are one of my favorites! I don’t remember where I learned about them getting stuck in plastic coke holders, but I have always made sure to cut them up before throwing them away ever since! So, make sure to cut the plastic coke bottle holders so the animals don’t get stuck!

Alright friend, here’s a funny story. When I was walking through the networking event I was attending at the museum I stumbled across this aardvark skeleton. I grew up watching the tv show “Arthur” on PBS. Arthur was an aardvark and he had this little song he sang to remember his spelling words. I stood in the gallery chuckling to myself as I remembered A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K. Just type “Arthur aardvark song from PBS” into YouTube and you’ll find it. Now you’ll never forget how to spell it!

Finally, this Sumatran Rhinoceros skeleton is the most rare piece in the collection.

Concluding Thoughts

Skeletons the Museum of Osteology is a neat museum to visit next time you’re in Oklahoma City. Let me know if you get to meet Indiana Bones because I did not!

Happy traveling, friend! I’ll talk to ya soon! 🙂

Visit

10301 S Sunnylane Road

Oklahoma City, OK 73160

Sources

Skeletons: Museum of Osteology – Website

“About Us” Skeletons Museum of Osteology

Plaques on the museum walls