This is intended to be a personal, yet public collection of my thoughts, memories, research and journey into the world of taxidermy. Taxidermy, from the Greek words for 'to arrange the skin' is a controversial genre of art worldwide and a very old practise. In brief, taxidermy is to preserve the pelt of an animal, and move it onto a sculpted manikin body. It originally was popular centuries ago, as before zoos (or when zoos were mostly private), the only chance someone would get of seeing something like a lion or tiger was in drawings and taxidermy. In the Victorian-era, fur became a fashion, and taxidermy was seen as very stylish. Somewhat surprising, Victorian-style taxidermy, something I will detail later in this blog, has recently become popular once again.
Rabbits at school: An example of Victorian taxidermy
Contrary to popular belief, skinning an animal does not involve blood and guts everywhere. If the animal is freshly thawed (the animal is frozen to prevent decomposing and to kill parasites), or still thawing, there is little to no blood. The body cavity is not cut into at all, unless by accident, and the only blood present is from either death wounds or at the body openings. Wikipedia compares it to removing a skin from a roast chicken, and I concur, having skinned animals from mice to fox-sized.
To preserve the pelt, I'd have to make another entry to explain the many methods used. Generally, pelts are 'tanned', chemically altered so that they do not rot. Tanned pelts are usually soft and fluffy. Otherwise, small animals can be preserved with household borax, salt (though this sweats and can make the mount smell bad), dry-preserve or even freeze-dried. There are, of course other methods, but I will dedicate a post to that in the future.
Forms, or manikins can be bought or made from materials such as wire, cotton, foam, clay and woodwool. However, in the 1700s, 'stuffed animals' were literally stuffed with rags! I also used to have an old magpie mount years ago that I took apart out of curiosity to find out it was stuffed with newspapers! Forms are altered to make new poses, and clay and epoxy is used to sculpt eye lids, muscles and the correct anatomy for the creature. Eyes are usually glass, and there are a few taxidermy companies such as Van Dykes (USA) and Snowdonia Supplies (Wales, UK) that provide a wide range. For species that they don't provide for, 'blank' eyes are available, which can be painted by the taxidermist.
The main 'use' for taxidermy today is hunting trophies; mostly in America, but here in Britain, foxes and deer are still hunted and some hunters or even people who find roadkill will still go to taxidermists for them to preserve the animal. Otherwise, taxidermy is also still regarded as an art. (Though I am in no way saying that hunting trophies are not art either) Indeed, there are those out there named 'rogue taxidermists'. These individuals create curious monsters from legend, such as gryphons or unicorns, and of course their own creations. As aforementioned, Victorian taxidermy is also make a comeback, with mice in waistcoats and hares at teaparties popping up all over the place. There have also been a variety of impressive taxidermy pieces popping up in art installations in Spain, Germany and other countries.
Taxidermy is an absolutely fascinating field of work and art, and I learn something new every single day. Painstakingly recreating what nature has provided us with is a talent which very few taxidermists out there truly have. It is not simply throwing a purchased pelt on a foam form and sticking the thing on ebay; it is an understanding of every single detail of that cougars face as that taxidermist is delicately working on it's nose with that tiny brush, or how exactly that rare bird should be positioned in that habitat with little to no references. It is an understanding of nature, the world around us and the behaviour and anatomy of animals that rivals zoologists and veterinarians. And it is mostly only obtained by hundreds of hours spent observing that animal, learning from mistakes and keeping at it.
I admire taxidermists, and I am only just starting my journey into this fascinating and competitive world. I have no desire to be a commercial taxidermist; I wish to work on my mounts in my own time, as a hobby. Working with animals both living and dead is a huge honour to me. And most importantly, no matter how much money a particular animal is worth, I will always try to remember that that creature gave it's life, that it is an animal and not just a fur pelt.
A life-size red fox mount by Mark.J.Hendrickson
Over the next few weeks I will hopefully update this blog about various topics in taxidermy: Its history, famous taxidermists, tutorials from research I have compiled, impressive mounts, of course the bad mounts, reference pictures, my own experiences and everything in between!
I hope you enjoyed reading, and I will see you next time!
