When one thinks about taxidermy, the first thought that comes to mind is all those stuffed animals in the museums of natural history. Taxidermy is a general term that describes the many methods of reproducing a life-like three-dimensional representation of an animal for permanent display. The word “taxidermy” is derived form two ancient Greek words, taxis, meaning movement, and derma, meaning skin.
Starting in the eighteenth century,a growing interested in natural history resulted in collections and exhibits of birds, beast, and curiosities. They would chemically preserve skins, hair and feathers making it possible to recreate the appearance of live animals by stuffing the sewed-up skin with straw or hay. These days professional taxidermist prefer the term “mounting” to “stuffing and many may find the latter offensive.
Taxidermy can be done on all species of animals. There are different types of taxidermy.
- Crypto-taxidermy is the creation of stuffed animals which do not have real, life counterparts, such as he saber tooth tiger.
- Anthropomorphic taxidermy is where stuffed animals are dressed as people or displayed as engaged in human activities.
- The Modern Rogue Taxidermy movement differs from the traditional taxidermy in that Rogue Taxidermist share he mandated to “advocate the showmanship of oddities, espouse the belief in natural adaptation and mutation, and encourage the desire to create displays of curiosity.”
A further new trend is the creation of entirely artificial fish mounts from photographs for catch-and-release fisherman. Synthetic materials, especially celluloids, are now often used to reproduce the true color and translucence of such specimens as snakes and fishes. The technique is known as reproduction taxidermy and is gaining favor with fisherman. This is perfect for catch-and-release angers, who can release their game fish unharmed, and can still have a life-sized trophy produced from a good color photo and measurements.
To practice taxidermy, one must be extremely familiar with anatomy, dissection, sculpture, and painting, as well as tanning. Taxidermy schools provide great hands-on training and mentoring so that you can learn every detail of the craft.
In some cases, the actual skin (including the fur, feathers or scales) of the specimen is preserved and mounted over an artificial armature. Keep in mind; some taxidermy mounts (most notably saltwater fish) do not contain any part of the animal as all.
The methods that taxidermist practice have been improved over the last century, greatly improving taxidermic quality. What began with the ancient custom of keeping trophies of the hunt, has developed into a true art form.
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