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The conservation of taxidermy is the ongoing maintenance and preservation of zoological specimens that have been mounted or stuffed for display and study. Taxidermy specimens contain a variety of organic materials, such as fur, bone, feathers, skin, and wood, as well as inorganic materials, such as burlap, glass, and foam.
The word taxidermy describes the process of preserving the animal, but the word is also used to describe the end product, which are called taxidermy mounts or referred to simply as "taxidermy". [1] The word taxidermy is derived from the Ancient Greek words τάξις taxis (order, arrangement) and δέρμα derma (skin). [2]
The Lion of Gripsholm Castle is a notable example of a poorly performed taxidermy located in Gripsholm Castle, Sweden. The lion is badly stuffed and is considered to have a comically deformed face. [1] In 1731, the dey of Algiers, Baba Abdi, presented King Frederick I of Sweden with a lion, one of the first lions in Scandinavia. [2]
South Dakota's Legislature has made it easier for the city of Sioux Falls to find new homes for more than 150 taxidermy animals of its arsenic-contaminated menagerie.
Only the skull of the animal is displayed, which will have horns, antlers, or nothing attached to the skull depending on the animal. The mount does not take up much room because of the lack of neck and hide. [2] The traditional method of removing muscle and other flesh tissue leaving only the clean skull is boiling the entire head of the animal.
Bird and mammal specimens are conserved as dry study skins, a form of taxidermy. [1] The skin is removed from the animal's carcass, treated with absorbents, and filled with cotton or polyester batting (In the past plant fibres or sawdust were used). Bird specimens have a long, thin, wooden dowel wrapped in batting at their center.
Charles A. Testa (born 1956) is an American taxidermist and owner of Ojai Valley Taxidermy in California. [1] A commercial for Testa's business created by Rhett & Link for the show Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings became a viral video, and the catchphrase "Nope, Chuck Testa!"
As documented in Frederick H. Hitchcock's 19th-century manual entitled Practical Taxidermy, the earliest known taxidermists were the ancient Egyptians and despite the fact that they never removed skins from animals as a whole, it was the Egyptians who developed one of the world's earliest forms of animal preservation through the use of injections, spices, oils, and other embalming tools. [3]