Have you ever noticed tiny holes in your woollen jumpers or in your wooden furniture? These are caused by some of the bugs that like to feed on different materials in our homes, but they can also eat the objects in museums.
Clothes moths (Tineola bisselliella), small cream-coloured moths, fly or walk around a house or museum and lay their eggs during the warm months of the year. These eggs hatch into larvae that eat keratin, a protein found in wool, fur, hair and feathers. These moth larvae could damage objects in the Mary Rose Museum like the woollen jerkins (like a waistcoat) or horsehair brushes.
Furniture beetle or woodworm (Anobium puncatum) lay their eggs in cracks or holes in wooden items. The larvae bore into wood creating tiny burrows; they will continue tunnelling through the wood, eating the cellulose and hemicellulose, for 3-4 years until pupating and transforming into adults during warmer weather. The adults create exit holes to leave the wood and fly off to mate and then lay more eggs. You might find furniture beetles on your windowsills during the summer as they try to make their way outside. There are lots of wooden objects at the Mary Rose Museum, including the ship itself.
