Taxidermy - What is it?

By Patrick Fitz-Gibbon


A profession which has been around for thousands of years, frequently regarded as as "stuffing" an animal, which if a true professional taxidermist heard you say that, they would most likely take offence as the correct expression which should be applied is mounting. It can preserve animals in a way which is life like.

Taxidermy is an art form involving quite a few skills that can take many years to perfect. Normally somebody that practices it will need to perfect skills such as painting, drawing, woodworking, casting and molding and possess a lot of patience as it is a very slow process and one which cannot be rushed. Although the process is much more refined than it was many years ago, it is still something which only a true craftsman can carry out.

Taxidermy might be carried out on a large range of animals, but is most commonly applied when hunters catch and kill something these folks wish to keep as a memento. Though quite a few individuals are turning to taxidermy as a way to preserve their much loved pets.

If carried out correctly it can result in very life like results, that have been known to fool folks if they are entering someplace which shows a full size animal.

The process of Taxidermy

There are a number of different processes that might be applied. A lot involve skinning the animal and placing it on a mannequin mount.

The most traditional proceedure involves using the bones of animals to create a mannequin which is generally carved out of wood or wood wool. And after that the skin is tanned and treated and placed on the mount. Yet another approach entails molding plaster around the carcass.

A trend that is starting to be more and more popular is to freeze dry the animal, even so this is incredibly time consuming and expensive. If you have a large animal they might spend up to six months in a freeze dryer. This method is usually utilized on the smaller mammals like cats, mice and birds, though it might be utilized on some of the smaller types of dogs. It has been known that animals preserved in this way can later on be vulnerable to becoming eaten by bugs like carpet beetles.

A different proceedure used in Taxidermy

A taxidermist could quite typically not use any of these methods, especially in the case of fish. It is relatively common for fisherman that desires to keep a memento of their catch to take images and measurements prior to releasing the fish back into the water. The details will then enable a taxidermist to produce a sculpture from fiberglass or resin. This is where the ability of painting arrives into play as the specialist will then delicately decorate the sculpture that will result in a reproduction of the fish.




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