The Draper Natural History Museum Grizzly Bear and Mountain Lion Articulation Workshop Timelapse

In May 2020, a 14-year old male grizzly bear had to be lethally removed from the Eastern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem due to increasing contact and potential conflict with people. In these instances, the organism proceeds to one of two fates: it can either go to a formal repository to be used for education and research or it goes to a landfill to decompose and return to the soil.
The Draper Natural History Museum has established a partnership with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to serve as a repository for organisms that cannot be relocated and are lethally removed. This bear is one of those organisms.
After transferring the bear to the museum, volunteers took on the painstaking task of disarticulating the specimen and removing as much soft tissue as possible. From there, our dermestid colony reduced the specimen down to bare bear bones (get it?). This process took about one year to complete.
We then organized an articulation workshop with Lee "The Boneman" Post. Lee flew down from Homer, Alaska to work with Draper staff, volunteers, and Center interns to teach the process of articulation.
Over the span of 2.5 weeks, Lee and the Draper Natural History Museum team reconstructed the grizzly bear and a mountain lion skeleton. This timelapse, developed by Delta C Filmmakers, highlights this process and the incredible work of our volunteers.
Enjoy this video and please come see the articulated skeletons in-person, located in the Foothills Biome of the Draper Natural History Museum!