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  • It's question time with Emily.

  • That's me.

  • Someone asked: What's the most disgusting thing you've ever worked on in the lab?

  • Have you ever thrown up in the lab?

  • Will we ever get to see you throw up?

  • The award for the most disgusting thing probably goes to this forelimb of an elk that I got to clean.

  • This hunter had claimed an animal and then brought this limb to us

  • after noticing there was something severely wrong with it.

  • It appeared that the animal had sustained some kind of traumatic injury

  • which had broken the humerus in two places,

  • so there were broken bits of bone sticking out of the skin and it was all exposed to the elements

  • and you had these two pieces that were grinding against one another

  • as it tried to create a false joint, so there's this horrible malocclusion

  • and then it became all pussy and infected and you had these huge swollen bits of growing bone

  • grinding against one another and then maggots got in there and dirt

  • and all kinds of stuff since it was just exposed to the air.

  • We estimate that this animal lived for about a year and a half after this injury happened,

  • um, so, then I got it, and I got to clean it.

  • And it was really disgusting.

  • I've never thrown up in the lab, but if I ever do throw up while we're filming,

  • I sure hope that we catch it on camera.

  • Adam Kent, @The_Wolf_Spirit asked:

  • What made you decide that you wanted to get into taxidermy?

  • I really didn't decide on anything

  • It was more like, when I walked into the museum for the first time,

  • it was like Charles Darwin descended from the heavens and whispered into my ear:

  • "Go forth,"

  • "and scoop brains."

  • Someone asked: Are you a taxidermist?

  • No, I'm not a taxidermist. Taxidermists are artists and sculptors that have earned their prestigious titles.

  • I am merely a lowly specimen preparator.

  • Emily Farrell is wondering: Do you still enjoy eating meat after dissecting animals?

  • It definitely took me a while to disassociate the smell of the nasty dermestid colony

  • with delicious food but I eventually got over it and went back to eating meat because bacon.

  • Emma Coyle, @ECOYLE_13 is wondering what my favorite part of the wolf dissection videos was.

  • My favourite part of the entire wolf dissection process

  • was probably the moment when we were taking out all of the bowels and the smell was really overpowering,

  • and then we cut into the stomach and saw the fur bits,

  • and it was just so gross but so fascinating at the same time.

  • I've really never experienced anything quite like that before.

  • Keri J, @HausofKezza is wondering

  • what I would have done with my life if I hadn't started volunteering in the museum.

  • I'd probably still hold the record for worst barista in the world.

  • A lot of you were curious to know who the dapper gentleman in the photo above the sink in the wolf CSI video was.

  • That's Morten John Elrod. He's a founding biologist here at the University of Montana

  • and also the individual responsible for starting our museum collection here.

  • And there's actually a freshwater snail named after him.

  • Some anonymous person asked: Does your parents watch your show?

  • Yeah. My parents are pretty much my biggest fans.

  • A funny story about my mom! When she was in high school,

  • she had this pet hamster that died,

  • and the way that it died, its paws were kinda stuck like this,

  • so she thought it was a perfect fit for some of the wheels from one of her brothers' Hot Wheels car,

  • so she took the wheels off the car, put them in her paws and made this thing,

  • she called it the Hamstermobile,

  • and, uh, she took it to high school with her, and someone stole it out of her locker.

  • Yep.

  • A lot of you are curious to know whether or not we name any of the animals here.

  • We don't intentionally name the animals but we will keep a name associated with an animal

  • if it comes in as a pet or whatever,

  • so we have Oscar the wiener dog, we have Ramses the llama,

  • Tango the cavy.

  • And one time I was looking in the student collection and I found this exotic looking cat

  • and so I looked at the label to find out more information about it

  • and all it said was "Fluffy".

  • Emily Hamm @Guardrone is wondering

  • what is one thing I've learned from working here that I would have never learned anywhere else.

  • I don't think any other job would have granted me the opportunity to learn

  • the multitude of diverse odiferous bouquets that can be enjoyed from rotting animals.

  • Sarah Federbush said

  • Federbush...

  • Fedder- Fedderbush?

  • Fedderbush.

  • Sara Federbush said: You said that pangolins are like Sandshrews.

  • If you could scoop any Pokémon, what Pokémon would you scoop?

  • Mewtwo.

  • Duh.

  • Vi Hart is wondering, have I ever had to get rid of a specimen that I've loved?

  • One time I bonded with an armadillo that I found in the freezer

  • and I tried to salvage, but it was too far rotten, so we had to throw it out.

  • A couple of you have said: Hank Green said that the show is unable to sustain itself. Is it true?

  • Yes, unfortunately, this is true.

  • As of right now, the show really isn't making enough money to pay the people working on it

  • even minimum wage, um, let alone be able to afford us the opportunity to visit other museums

  • or do fun things like go to the international taxidermy championships,

  • which we would love to do.

  • We are currently working on some alternate means of fundraising but in the meantime

  • if you would like to show your support, you can make a monetary donation of any value,

  • just follow the link below.

  • a-mug-full-of-jellybeans asked: Do you ever get afraid that the animals are gonna come alive at night and attack you?

  • No.

  • I don't really know why you would ask.

It's question time with Emily.

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