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Taxidermy
| Taxidermy The word "taxidermy" comes from two Greek words meaning "movement-skin." It is the art of preserving animals in an anatomically correct way using natural parts of the animal. In former times, taxidermists would stuff the skin with rags and straw--hence the phrase "stuffed animal." The use of this term--for example, Roy Rodgers' "stuffed horse"--is a faux pas with modern taxidermists who prefer the term "mounting." There are two types of taxidermy: game heads/full body taxidermy, and fish taxidermy. Bird taxidermy is a subject similar to full body taxidermy with obvious differences.
Walk into a lodge-type home and you might see deer and antelope heads attached to plaques on the walls. Enter a natural wildlife museum and you will see bears, tigers, zebras and elephants in full body representation. Almost always, the only natural parts of a mounted animal are the skin and head appendages--antlers or horns. The soft tissue details and things such as claws teeth and hooves are made from a special epoxy made for taxidermy. The interior parts of the animal used to be sculpted directly for each species, but now they are molded into manikins. The skin of the animal is carefully tanned (made into leather) and glued onto the manikin. Then the finishing touches are made with an artistic flair.
Fish taxidermy is different in that the skins are much harder or nearly impossible to remove. The fish taxidermist has to be a premier sculpturer, because any imperfection of the manikin will easily show through the thin skins. The fish taxidermist also has to be an artistic paint artist, because the skins of fish quickly lose their color and the entire body must be painted to exacting standards. Some finely scaled fish whose skin is extremely difficult to remove, such as catfish, sailfish, swordfish, etc., are cast entirely from fiberglass and painted. Some freshwater game fish are done this way too, which facilitates the catch-and-release habits of most sportsmen. It seems as if anything can be mounted in the art of taxidermy, as long as it's large enough. Insects in particular would present a problem for the traditional taxidermist. |