Get Stuffed: Show Me's Guide To Taxidermy

Loads of museums have 'stuffed' animals and birds on display. Have you ever wondered why or how creatures like Sir Roger (the elephant... more on him at the bottom of the page!) end up that way?

Well, this special Show Me guide will tell you all you need to know...

For starters, the scientific name for what we're talking about is taxidermy, which comes from two old Greek words.

'Taxis' means movement and 'derma' means skin. Put the two together and you find out that taxidermists move and arrange skin.

Lots of people still talk about 'stuffing' dead animals though.

Sounds disgusting, doesn't it? It comes from a time when cotton and rags were stuffed inside the skin.

© Glasgow City Council Museums.

So why would anyone want to do that to an animal?

Well, the idea of using animal skins to make models of animals goes back thousands of years.

Early man would fit animal skins around rocks. These animal look-a-likes were used in hunting rituals, as trophies, or to bring luck to the tribe.

In Victorian times taxidermy was very popular - many of the animals and birds you see in museums today date back to those days.

Taxidermy is still a very important skill for some staff in modern museums too, not least because they have to look after all of those Victorian specimens!

In this picture, you can see birds being prepared for display at Bolton Museum.

© Bolton and Bury Art Galleries and Museums.

One of the main reasons why taxidermy was so popular was because people wanted to preserve their pets and the wild creatures that fascinated them.

Before cameras and television were invented the only way to keep a record of animals was to draw or paint them, or to keep specimens. Taxidermy was thought to be a good way to teach people about animals they couldn't see otherwise.

This scene of goats living in a mountain setting is called a diorama. In dioramas, creatures are mounted in scenery or with backgrounds. In this case, it's very lifelike.

This diorama is on display with hundreds of other examples of taxidermy at The Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent.

© The Powell-Cotton Museum.

Other taxidermists were less interested in 'real' life, and used mounted animals to make some very bizarre displays.

Walter Potter was a Victorian taxidermist who used small mammals to create scenes like this one, called 'The Kittens' Tea Party'. Cute? Or creepy? You decide!

© Pat Morris.

Potter's collection included over 6000 animals. It was sold at auction in 2003 though, so you can't see it all together any more.

Here's a section of 'The Rabbits' Village School' - which sold for £15,275!

© Pat Morris.

The first animal that Walter 'stuffed' was his pet canary!
As you can see, the details in Walter Potter's work are amazing.

Look at the rabbits' miniature pens and the tiny instruments being played by the guinea pigs in this scene!

© Pat Morris.

You can see examples of taxidermy in the flesh (sorry, bad joke) at museums all around the UK. Check out our Places To See Taxidermy page for some suggestions.

When you've been, why not write and tell us what you saw?

Find out more about Sir Roger the elephant on the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum website.

Coming soon, we'll have part 2 of our guide, Taxidermy Today, which looks at exactly how modern taxidermists work and explores some of the talking points around the science of stuffing.