Can I polish off classroom dissection by-products?

[Clara D.]

So, there are currently several dissections going on at my school, and I'm curious if I could clean off and salvage the bones and possibly the hides. I don't get to participate in the dissection of vertebrates until next year. Until then, I'll just have to make due with squids, sea cucumbers and roundworms. But geez, those squids are so much fun to mutilate. And they taste great, too!

I'm rambling now. Anyways, the specimens are kept in a jar of formaldehyde until they're taken out to dissect. The bones and hides are kept in pretty good condition throughout the duration of the dissection, and I'd like to know if I could salvage anything. The hides are probably ruined (but maybe not. That's why I'm posting on taxi.net. I need answers.) and the bones might be brittle, but still salvageable. If I can get my paws on some bones, could anyone give me some advice for cleaning them? I'm planning on using maceration, but if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it

[Head Hunting Iowan]

I doubt that stuff would rot after being soaked in that.

[Sea Wolf]

Take one preserved, dead cat. Toss into a pond. 3 years later dredge up dead cat by accident. Other than algae, cat looks like it did 3 years ago.  It's pretty well preserved forever. You can do a lot of labor and clean the bones but I would say the hide would be useless.

[Alpinist]

X2 what Sea Wolf said. You probably won't be able to do much with the hide or bones, but one thing you could do that's pretty cool is diaphanisation, a.k.a. clearing and staining. It was discussed in the forums recently. Preserved specimens are perfect for the procedure. Your teacher can probably get the chemicals if she/he doesn't have them already.