Ain’t Nothing but Mammals

Where would we be, exactly, without the most disgusting among our animal friends? Vultures and maggots get a bad rap, true, but those rotting roadkill corpses aren’t going to eat themselves. Nature is full of toe-curling nastiness, and on Saturday, the South Florida Science Museum kicks off a 20-week run...

By Sam Eifling

September 23, 2010

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Where would we be, exactly, without the most disgusting among our animal friends? Vultures and maggots get a bad rap, true, but those rotting roadkill corpses aren’t going to eat themselves. Nature is full of toe-curling nastiness, and on Saturday, the South Florida Science Museum kicks off a 20-week run of an exhibit called “Animal Grossology,” which purports to incorporate “solid science” into a thoroughly educational tour of the more execrable corners of the animal experience: dung beetles, gastropod slime, cow cud. Those are gross, sure. But we wonder whether the truly horrifying animals of the world will be admitted. What of the human bot fly, whose larvae hatch under people’s skin and which have been known to hatch and devour human brains? Or hookworms, which live their entire damnable lives in excrement? Or the candiru, which allegedly seeks to swim into urethras? And don’t even get us started on where babies come from. Get your icky jollies at the South Florida Science Museum (4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach). General admission to the museum is $6 for kids and $9 for people older than 13. Get more information online at sfsm.org or by calling 561-832-1988.
Mondays-Saturdays, noon; Sundays, 10 a.m. Starts: Sept. 25. Continues through Jan. 9, 2010

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