At the Field Museum in Chicago, Komodo dragon specimens are kept in custom-made stainless steel tanks that can hold over 100 gallons of solution. The lizards weigh an average of 125 pounds, making them the largest, though not the longest, lizard species on Earth. Like the rest of the museum’s specimens, the lizards are preserved in 70 percent ethanol. These Komodo dragon specimens weren’t unboxed for research until about 18 years after the museum first acquired them.

In the video above, Atlas Obscura gets a behind-the-scenes look from Collections Manager Alan Resetar at exactly how these massive lizards are preserved for future research.

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