@Arthur40twodent asks "Are you going to have new episodes soon?  When are you going to have new episodes? I need to know."

We're going to have so many episodes.  We signed up to do at least 96 episodes this year on The Brain Scoop channel.  That comes out to being like two episodes a week.  And, we're gonna have all different kinds of formats, we're gonna have tours of the museum and collections, we're gonna visit researchers, we're going to go on field trips, we're going to have history lessons about taxidermy, we're going to dissect things, we're going to go bird watching, we're going to collect road kill, we're going to do all the things!

Skylarkien on Tumblr asks "Did you kill all of these animals?"

Sometimes they are animals that accidentally died during research projects, sometimes they are animals that died in zoos or pet stores or people who have exotic pets, sometimes we get them through exchanges of other universities and museums, sometimes they are donated by people who work for the state department, sometimes they are roadkill, sometimes a hunter will get something in the field and he doesn’t want to keep the skull of his animal so he’ll donate it to us. We get this animals by a variety of  means, none of which are us actually physically going out and killing them ourselves.
 

Aaron, @bowlbo92, asked on Twitter: “What was the first animal you brain-scooped?”

You guys, I been scoopin’ brains since 2010. in November of  2010 I first came to the museum with a coworker who was working in a prep lab at the time. And she said: “Hey, do you wanna come and check out the lab sometime?” And I said: “Oh, that sound pretty cool. Yeah, let's go.” So she brought me here and pretty much as soon as I walked into the lab someone handed me a scalpel and a western jumping mouse and said: "Have at it!" And I have been here ever since.

Some anonymous person on Tumblr asked: "Do you need any special training to do this?"

Yes, absolutely, you guys. These are dead animals we're talking about here. They have all kinds of bacteria and diseases and parasites and you don't even know what they have until maybe after you already have it. In addition to all of the weird funky things that these animals may or may not have, it may also be illegal for you to collect or posses their remains, even once they're dead. So, before you go out into the woods picking anything up make sure to inform yourself of your local, state, and federal laws concerning the collection and possession of animal remains. If you guys are interested in doing this as a profession or a hobby I wholly encourage you to look into your local colleges or schools  that may offer classes in taxidermy and animal preparation.

@smileyshamrock asked: "Are there lots of animal ghost?"

Some of you guys on Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook have asked: "How big is this place? Have you run out of space yet?"

When the American Society of Mammalogists re accredited us in 1985 they said at that time we had run out of space. Since then we have lost about 400 square feet of museum cabinet storage space and we have gained about 3000 extra specimens.

@Godofthec on YouTube asked: “How are you gonna call your viewers?”

I don’t know! You decide!

Twitter user … I’m gonna butcher your name, your name is Bec , your username is bec r-ho-des, hodes, hodes, ah … You wanted to know: “What’s the weirdest way someone has ever given you something for the museum?”

One time our curator Dave was working in the lab on a weekend, and we’re on the second floor, and he heard somebody throwing pebbles at the window, so he went downstairs to let them in and instead of the guy saying anything to Dave, he just shoved this plastic bag into Dave’s arms and then ran away. And Dave was like "I don’t know what this is I guess I’ll take it upstairs and look into the bag." And when he opened it up, there was a bald eagle. Which isn’t good because it is illegal for any private citizen to ever touch or harbor or sell or transport any part of a bald eagle living or dead.

@willtople on Twitter is wondering: “Children - what’s the silliest thing they have ever asked you on a tour?”

They always ask if everything is dead. "Is that dead? Is that dead? Is that dead? Is that dead?"
Yes, you guys, everything is dead.
 

I hope that answered some of the questions you guys had today. If I didn’t get to you question, never fear, we will probably be doing this again. If you have more questions that you would like me to answer, make sure to send them to the Twitter or the Facebook or or Tumblr or leave them in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe, my name is Emily and this is The Brain Scoop.
 
(Outro Music)

… it still has brains on it.