TAXIDERMY
FACTS, OPINIONS, STATISTICS, WORDS, IMAGES
CONTENTS
1- Taxidermy basics 3 - Special terms 5 - Facts and figures 7 - Opinions 9 - Illustrations 11 - Taxidermy Trivia
TAXIDERMY Taxidermy began in England in the 19th century. Initially, taxidermy was a crude and unsophisticated process. Animals were gutted, their hides were tanned and then stuffed with cotton or straw and sewed back up for display. In the 1970’s, taxidermists stopped stuffing the animals and stretched their skin over special moulds. This is why you should refer to the animal as being “mounted” rather than “stuffed”. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
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BASICS Some taxidermy specimens do not involve a carcass at all, particularly in the case of sporting fish, such as trout and bass, for which the practice of catch and release is becoming increasingly prevalent. Instead, detailed photos and measurements are taken of the animal, and then a taxidermist creates a resin or fibreglass sculpture of the animal that can be mounted and displayed as a specimen. The actual animal is released. Some足 taxidermists work exclusively with non-hunted animals, which usually means road kill.
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TAXIDERMY The are of preparing, stuffing, and mouting the skins of animals with lifelike effect.
HABITAT DIORAMA A scene which depicts the animal in its natural habitat. ROUGE TAXIDERMY This kind of taxidermy represents an animal not found in nature, e.g. a griffin. VEGAN TAXIDERMY Detailed photos are taken of the animal and it is re-created using resin and fiberglass. The actual animal is released.
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SPECIAL TERMS
ANTHROPMORPHISM The attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object.
RE-CREATION An animal that has been re-created without using any of its own parts. TROPHY Something mounted and displayed, e.g. a deers head.
PLASTINATION A preservation method involving water and fat being replaced by plastics that yeild specimines that can be touched.
SKINNING Removing skin from the animal.
TANNING Converting animal skins into leather by soaking in a liquid containing tannic acid or other chemicals.
ARSENIC One of taxidermys earliest preservation methods.
TANNERY A place where animal hides are tanned; the workshop of a tanner.
SPECIMIN An exact replica of how an animal appeared in the wild.
MOUNTING A backing, setting or support for something.
EMBALMING Preserving a corpse from decay, originally with spices.
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FORM A real sized cast of the animal made from clay.
The largest mammal ever mounted for a museum is the male African bush elephant, which made its public debut in the rotunda of the Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in 1959. Among the oldest surviving taxidermy specimens is a crocodile that was mounted in 1623 and is still on display in the Natural History Museum of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The Manchester Museum includes a sizable holding of zoology specimens which is 600,000 strong.
A taxidermy business can be quite expensive to set up, usually costing around £3000, though the returns and profit margin are usually between 50% - 75%. Many taxidermists earn between £12,000 and £20,000 a year, though some can earn up to £30,000 a year, as the majority of taxidermists are self-employed.
It takes at least 72 hours to complete a piece of taxidermy. you could be looking to pay from 150 pounds for a rack of antlers, but if you look after them correctly they can last for more than 10 years.
FACTS AND 5
FIGURES 6
OPINIONS Looks cool, seems mean. Bad taxidermy is hillaroious. I don’t think I’d have one in my house, though I have nothing against it. I think its super cool, theres a great skill in making a dead thing look alive! Gross & unnessesary. It’s okay but I think it’s a bit weird personally. I don’t think its respectful of an animals body. I think its okay because its preserving something and making it nice to look at, even when it’s died. As long as you don’t kill for the purpose of taxidermy.
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I don’t see a problem with it, as long as the animal used has died of natural causes and hasn’t been killed specifically for taxidermy. I think its a very old fashioned thing to do. I think it’s demeaning for the animals, for people to treat them as ornaments rather than living things. I think it’s really weird and creepy, but if the animal has died of natual causes I don’t see anything wrong with it as such.
I personally love to look at the butterflys, mixed opinons but mostly against. I personally like how quirky it is, especially when done badly. It goes back to when animals were hunted as trophies so it upsets me to still see it done today. I think it can look quite nice as a decorative piece!
I think it’s a tad disrespectful to the animals.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
TAXI DER MY TRIVIA
The oldest record of taxidermy dates back to the 1600’s Mummification can be traced back over 2000 years to the Ancient Egyptians. The M5 has the highest toll of roadkill in the UK. On most taxidermy courses a large percentage (90%-95%) people are women. Taxidermy specimens can be saved for later use by freezing.
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