Portions of the remains of Flaco, New York City’s late beloved Eurasian eagle owl, have been transferred to the American Museum of Natural History, where they will be kept in the frozen tissue specimen collection, the Central Park Zoo said in a statement on Tuesday.
Flaco’s wings and tissues were transferred following his March necropsy.
The Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Central Park Zoo, said Flaco’s other remains will be housed at the Bronx Zoo’s Wildlife Health Center.
Flaco became a symbol of defiant resilience after his escape from the zoo in February 2023. In his year of freedom, he upended assumptions that an owl bred in captivity would not be able to survive in the city. But Flaco ultimately died, partly because of rat poison, zoo officials said in March of this year. News of his death prompted an outpouring of memorials, works of art, poems and commemorative tattoos.
The American Museum of Natural History did not immediately provide comment. According to the museum’s website, the Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection supports research by archiving and loaning tissue to scientists.
The museum describes its specimen collection as “essential in order to preserve as comprehensive a record as possible of the Earth’s biodiversity.”
The Bronx Zoo, which conducted Flaco’s postmortem, historically donates specimens to the museum, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. The remains will not be for public viewing but can aid scientists in research, developing educational materials and field guides.
