The Stuff of Wonders

For our final action project for our STEAM class Populations, we didn't have very much time. We spent a lot of time in unit 2 and we learned a lot of valuable things. You can view my action project for unit 2 here. For unit 3, we only had about two weeks. Because of this, our teacher decided to not put a full action project on us. This was because our teacher wanted to make sure we understood what we were studying. Consider this project a mini action project. For this unit, we learned about preservation methods and population changes. We looked at data from all around the world about population growth and carrying capacity. We asked the question: “Why is it important to tell the story of populations for future generations.” When we asked this question we started learning about preservation methods. We took a trip to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. There, we looked at different organisms and a lot of taxidermies. We also saw a demonstration of a bird going through the taxidermy process. For this final project, we were asked to pick a method of preservation, I chose taxidermy. With this method, we had to create something to explain why it is important I chose to do a short essay.

What is taxidermy? Many people might know what it is and think it is pretty gross. I would like to offer the point of view that it is a beautiful form of art and science combined. Taxidermy is when an animal dies and its skin is collected to turn it into what it would look like when they were alive. The process of taxidermy can be small scale or very large scale. No matter the animal, the process is the same. You take the skin of the animal and stuff it with a moisture absorbing material. You then sew the animal back up and pose it into what it would look like in real life. This kind of process is called a display mount. This is for viewing purposes and is usually not meant to be handled. The process may sound simple, but it can be very time consuming.

This is an example of what taxidermy looks like. It can look very realistic. Taxidermy can be a form of art. Some taxidermists are better than others, just like artists. Some taxidermied animals are put in dioramas to make it look like they are in their natural environment. This bald eagle is not placed in a diorama. He is in a case with other birds and placed on a fake rock.

DS. Bald Eagle, (2017)

Taxidermy has been around for a very long time, thousands of years in fact. Taxidermy goes back to Ancient Egypt when people would mummify their pets. Taxidermy has gone through many innovations. In the middle ages, people got a lot better at taxidermy. A man named Pierre Belon was the first person to publish a book on taxidermy. He published his book in 1555. In the Victorian era, taxidermy was at the peak of its popularity. People would go on trips and kill and taxidermy animals to document their travels. This is when taxidermists started putting forms in the skins instead of stuffing. This made the animal look more realistic. This is also when people started placing taxidermied animals in natural positions and in dioramas. 

CM. Deer. (2017)

This deer is placed in a diorama. You can see the background and the plants surrounding him. There are also other animals in the scene to make it feel like it is a forest. Dioramas are an important part of taxidermy, and often they will go together. A diorama shows what the animal’s natural habitat would look like. This can provide more context to a specific animal. There may even be other animals that are not of the same species but do live together in the wild included in the diorama.

Unknown. PSM V59 D023 The taxidermy laboratory.png. (1901) Wikimedia Commons.

This is what a taxidermy laboratory looked like in the Victorian era.

Taxidermy can also be used to create animals that are extinct. Taxidermists take various skins and parts from other animals and make it look like an animal that has gone extinct hundreds of years ago. This is how it works in the case of the Dodo Bird. These birds were hunted to extinction hundreds of years ago. We have no bodies left, but there are taxidermied statues of them made out of different animals

Thomas Quine. Raphus cucullatus -Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany -taxidermy-29Aug2009.jpg. (2009) Wikimedia Commons

Taxidermy is very important for scientists and citizens. There is a special kind of taxidermy called study skins. This is used not for display but for research. The animals are usually tucked and put in drawers. These specimens can be very old. Scientists can go back and look at the animal's years later and make measurements and observations as to what those animals looked like when they died. These study skins are very important because it allows scientists to look into the past. These study skins can provide answers as to what different animals looked like in different time periods. They can also compare shape, size, colorations, and markings on the animals to animals today.

Notafly. BNHSColl.jpg. (2007) Wikimedia Commons.

 Citizens can benefit from taxidermy as well. Taxidermy can educate people. Schools often take field trips to museums with taxidermy displays.Taxidermy teaches people about animals from all around the world and in all shapes and sizes. Additionally, people can also learn about extinct and prehistoric animals.

Sources Cited:

The Taxidermist. “How Taxidermy Got Its Start.” The Taxidermy Hobbyist. N.p. N.d. 29, Oct 2017.
http://taxidermyhobbyist.com/history-of-taxidermy/how-taxidermy-got-its-start.html

In the end, I liked this project and this class. I thought we maybe could have done a full action project, but I enjoyed doing something different. I thought the most challenging part of this project was writing it. I didn't find that hard though. This project was a nice and fun way of ending this class. I really enjoyed the class population, and I am glad that I did well the whole way through.