The 750-piece collection will be packed away over a decade on from its launch.
On Tuesday January 26, Melbourne Museum will farewell its long-running Wild exhibition which has been on permanent display since 2009.
The collection of 750 taxidermy animals, some of which are more than 130 years old, will be moved into storage to protect them from deterioration.
Featuring a massive array of birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians, displayed in geographical groups, the towering exhibit has attracted visitors to the museum for over a decade.
“The insects actually eat the specimens, so the specimens gradually start to disintegrate … It’s been quite a challenge and we’ve had to remove a few specimens that have had quite bad infestations,” senior sciences curator Kate Phillips told The Age.
The collection will be treated for any present insect infestations before being moved to the museum’s storage area for preservation.
The exhibition will be replaced by one of the most complete and significant dinosaur skeletons in history, an 87 per cent complete Triceratops skeleton.
Making its public debut later this year, the fossil was found on a private property in Montana, USA in 2014 and features a complete skull and entire spine, making it the most well-preserved Triceratops skeleton ever found.
Wild is on display at Melbourne Museum until Tuesday January 26.
This article was originally published via Beat.
