On Saturday, the butterfly exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History was upstaged by the maggot exhibit.
CSI: Crime Scene Insects, an educational exhibit that opened over the weekend, will remain in Gainesville until January.
Producers of the popular television show “CSI” contributed to the creation of the exhibit, said Paul Ramey, the assistant director of marketing and public relations for the museum.
The exhibit, which was partially sponsored with a $60,000 grant from Student Government, is not intended for the squeamish, said Douglas Noble, the assistant director for exhibits and public programs at the museum. Graphic displays and pictures of dead bodies throughout the exhibit illustrate the role that insects can play in helping investigators determine when and where crimes occur.
The presence of fly larvae and eggs in a corpse, for example, can give investigators an idea of how long a person has been dead.
Other insects can also be helpful in solving crimes. Investigators in Texas recently convicted a murderer with the help of a dead grasshopper that was found on the victim’s body. One of the insect’s detached legs was found in the pant cuff of the culprit.
Museum curators hope the edgy exhibit will do something that few exhibits have done: attract students.
“When I was in college, I had interests that didn’t correspond to going to museums,” Noble said with a laugh.
When more students return to Gainesville for the fall semester, the museum’s marketing department is planning a large campaign to promote the exhibit, Ramey said.
“The purpose of these exhibits is to engage an audience and be educational,” he said.
Death and decay are common themes for the museum this year. In addition to the CSI exhibit, a time-lapse photography display of a decomposing panther head will be exhibited during the fall semester, Ramey said.
Starting in the fall, museum entomologists will also put decaying pig carcasses on display in the area behind the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Despite the macabre nature of these exhibitions, the museum is a good place for students to take their significant others, Noble said.
“Coming here is a good first date,” he said with a laugh. “We’re pretty safe.”
