Opening a ‘Cupboard’ of Treasures : At the Natural History Museum, visitors can get a peek at unusual insects and Hollywood artifacts. Have you ever seen how they skin a bird?

The largest ants in the world will share an exhibit hall with an original model miniature from the 1933 film “King Kong” in a display of rare artifacts Saturday at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The offbeat juxtaposition is coming about because of the museum’s annual “Curator’s Cupboard,” which will spotlight more than 200 items that the public doesn’t usually get to see.

Only a fraction of the museum’s collection--1% of more than 33 million artifacts--is shown at any one time, so this is still a microscopic, yet significant look behind the exhibit walls, organizers say.

The pieces on display, from the skull of a Komodo dragon to killer bee specimens, are methodically chosen by about 20 curators and collection managers. “Generally, they come up with little themes or have current research they want to show the public,” says Brian Brown, an associate curator of entomology who organized the exhibit.

An emphasis is placed on highlighting new specimens that “are not necessarily rarer but impressive to the point people will remember them,” says Lindsey Groves, collection manager of malacology (the study of mollusks) and invertebrate paleontology. Among his exhibits will be “strange and unusual mollusks,” including some that are microscopic, gastropods that are about 2 1/2 feet long and recently acquired insects preserved in amber.

“The museum is not simply exhibits, but the soul of the museum is its collection,” Groves says. “There’s no way we could ever show every one of our artifacts. This is a way of giving people an introduction to them, to show them what this museum and natural history museums worldwide are about.”

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One key to the museum’s public face is the readying of specimens, which will be demonstrated. “That’s going to be interesting to people,” Brown says. “Showing the preparation of insects and also the skinning of birds so that the skins can be studied. . . . People love that stuff.”

Museumgoers will be able to touch a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite and view the bones of ancient walruses, sea lions and mammal fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits. They’ll see “cool big crabs” from the South Pacific, Brown says, as well as skeletons of fish large and small. Preserved specimens of a Gila monster, dart poison frogs and dangerous snakes also will be shown, as will the giant skull of a polar bear.

“In addition to seeing things the general public doesn’t see, they are going to get to talk to the actual researchers,” Brown says. “They can ask them whatever questions they might have about natural history and cultural history.”

The lesser-known cultural history side of the museum will be in evidence in the historic photographs of Southern California from the mid-1800s and early 20th century, pulled from the museum’s Western history center. That’s also where the Hollywood angle comes in.

“We have a huge early Hollywood motion picture collection,” says Gina Ward, a museum spokeswoman. “We have one of the largest in the world, from the silent era to the ‘30s and ‘40s.” The “King Kong” model and one from “The Lost World,” a 1925 film, will be among the original model miniatures set up.

When artifacts such as the world’s largest ants, at about 1 1/4 inches long, aren’t on display, they once again become part of the museum’s unseen collection that can be called into use at any moment.

“Remember, these collections are the basis on which we understand biodiversity, history, cultures around the world,” Brown says. “They are not just stored away. They are dynamic research vessels used by researchers around the world.”

BE THERE

“Curator’s Cupboard” at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exhibit free with museum admission: $8, adults; $5.50, students; $2, children 5 to 12. (213) 763-3466.