Unusual museum jobs
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Unusual Museum Jobs — Daily trivia Thursday, September 10, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Carl Akeley, who made the 'Fighting African Elephants', pioneered which museum craft?
- ADiorama painting
- BFossil preparation
- CTaxidermy
- DCast making
Show answer
Taxidermy
Taxidermy's modern method is Akeley's: he sculpted each animal's musculature in a lifelike pose and fitted the skin over a light hollow mannequin; he died in the Congo in 1926 and is buried among the gorillas he studied.
Q 02What do natural history museums keep to strip skeletons clean?
- AFlesh-eating beetles
- BPiranhas
- CVultures
- DLeeches
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Flesh-eating beetles
Flesh-eating beetles: museums keep colonies of dermestid beetles to clean animal skeletons, and they are especially useful for small animals with delicate bones.
Q 03Which animals have guarded Russia's Hermitage museum from mice for centuries?
- AFerrets
- BTerriers
- COwls
- DCats
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Cats
Cats. Empress Elizabeth ordered mousers from Kazan for the Winter Palace in 1745, and in 2010 staff joked that only 50 of the museum's roughly 60 cats were official.
Q 04How is the hair attached to a Madame Tussauds wax figure?
- AOne strand at a time
- BAs a glued wig
- CWoven into a mesh cap
- DPainted on
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One strand at a time
One strand at a time: real human hair is inserted into the warm wax head with a needle, a job that takes the studio weeks per figure and is why the hairline looks so convincing up close.
Q 05Boston's Museum of Fine Arts trained a puppy to sniff out what?
- AInsects hiding in artworks
- BForged paintings
- CMould in storage
- DVisitors' contraband food
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Insects hiding in artworks
Insects hiding in artworks: Boston's Museum of Fine Arts began training its puppy Riley in 2018 to sniff out bugs that could damage the collection.
Q 06What is the title of the Yeoman Warder who looks after the Tower of London's resident birds?
- AKeeper of the Mews
- BRavenmaster
- CCorvid Warden
- DBird Sergeant
Show answer
Ravenmaster
The Ravenmaster, a Yeoman Warder, tends the Tower's ravens, which legend says must never leave or the kingdom will fall, and recent Ravenmasters have clipped their wings less so they can fly.
Q 07What modest-sounding title does the Smithsonian Institution's chief executive hold?
- ASecretary
- BClerk
- CSteward
- DRegistrar
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Secretary
Secretary is the title: it dates from the Smithsonian's 1846 founding act, when the institution's head was literally its board's secretary, and every chief since Joseph Henry has kept it.
Q 08Which substance did conservators spray on the Mary Rose's hull for years?
- APolyethylene glycol
- BBoiled linseed oil
- CMolten paraffin wax
- DMarine epoxy resin
Show answer
Polyethylene glycol
Polyethylene glycol, the waxy polymer also used to preserve Sweden's Vasa, was sprayed on the Mary Rose until 2013, when controlled air-drying of the hull began.
Q 09Which Florida theme park hosted a lab cleaning T. rex Sue's bones?
- ASeaWorld Orlando
- BUniversal's Islands of Adventure
- CDisney's Animal Kingdom
- DBusch Gardens Tampa
Show answer
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Animal Kingdom. Disney and McDonald's helped buy Sue for the Field Museum, and McDonald's funded two prep labs: one in Chicago, the other at the newly opened park.
Q 10What role involves making custom supports to safely display delicate or oddly shaped exhibition objects?
- ACarpenter
- BMountmaker
- CMetalworker
- DSculptor
Show answer
Mountmaker
A mountmaker builds the unobtrusive supports that hold objects safely on display, in storage or in transit, using designs and materials that won't harm the piece.
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