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There is a place in Oklahoma, in a sea of warehouses in an industrial OKC neighborhood, where you can finger a rhinoceros rib, press an alligator's teeth into the tender underside of your forearm, or rub the lacy bones hidden inside an elephant's nasal cavity. You can also watch a swarm of flesh-eating bugs eat the face from a dog's skull.
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The Museum of Osteology—America's only skeleton museum, according to its website—displays over 300 skeletons in a 7,000-square-foot building, grouped into about a dozen exhibits: locomotion, comparative anatomy, and forensic pathology are just a few of them. Suspended from the ceiling are the bones of dolphins, a manatee, and the 40-foot, 2,500-pound skeleton of a humpback whale. Admission is for sale for $6 per head.

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There's an exhibit on Oklahoma wildlife. Included is a skeleton of a bison and a fox. There's also a raccoon halfway through a box of Milk Duds. Plus, this guy:

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Our state bird, <em>Tyrannus forficatus. </em>My all-time second favorite.

We enjoyed our visit. Most interesting, though, was the museum gift shop. It's powered by Skulls Unlimited, "the world's leading supplier of osteological specimens" (1-800-659-SKULL), which sells various skulls to places like museums and medical schools. Inside I found various small animal skulls, snake ribs, and even human finger bones. They were priced at $10 each (reasonable?) and offered in a coffee cup near the cash register, like candy bars by the grocery store checkout.

From the store I procured a prairie dog skull (the perfect birthday gift for a certain friend) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baculum" target="_blank">the baculum bone</a> of a raccoon. I heard that in the world of premium coffee stirrers, a baculum is the gold standard. Most of the time, though, I just I keep my new baculum in my purse. It's been fun to show it to people at parties.

If you like the idea of owning your very own animal skull, <a href="http://www.skullsunlimited.com/record_collection.php?id=29" target="_blank">check out the Skulls Unlimited March specials</a>. The muskrat skulls seems to be a particularly good buy. When you have a few minutes to spare, peruse the rest of skullsunlimited.com. Before you move on, see about <a href="http://www.skullcleaning.com/" target="_blank">skullcleaning.com</a>, too.

<strong>Museum of Osteology</strong>
10301 S. Sunnylane Road, Oklahoma City
Hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m.
Admission is $6 for all ages 3 and up
<a href="http://www.museumofosteology.org/" target="_blank">http://www.museumofosteology.org/</a>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MuseumofOsteology" target="_blank">Museum of Osteology on Facebook</a>