There’s something funny-looking about the Grant Museum of Zoology’s taxidermy long-eared owl. An otherwise very well-preserved specimen, it wears a rather un-owl-like expression of shocked consternation, thanks to a pair of bright orange googly eyes that have been stuck on in mismatching directions. This is one of many faults and flaws that the museum will fix in its new project to repair and conserve its taxidermy collection.

This week, natural history conservator Lucie Mascord has been tending to some of the museum’s 75 taxidermy objects, helping to fix up animals including a pangolin with a metal rod sticking out of its nose, a koala bear whose fur has seen better days, a very grubby monkey and a goggle-eyed cowfish that’s missing some spines.

Lucie Mascord cleans taxidermy animals at the Grant Museum of Zoology Victoria Turk/WIRED


Artist Kathryn Fleming is designing a human-made wilderness Taxidermy Artist Kathryn Fleming is designing a human-made wilderness

Some of Mascord’s repairs will fix preparative mistakes made by taxidermists when first conserving an animal skin. One reason or such errors is that, historically, taxidermists may have received skins without ever seeing the animal it belonged to, and would only have sketches or descriptions to go on. “So you sometimes get animals that don’t look perfect, because people have never seen how they’re supposed to look,” says museum manager Jack Ashby.

Read next Eerie taxidermy models of monkeys, lemurs and apes go on display Gallery Eerie taxidermy models of monkeys, lemurs and apes go on display

This explains one of the museum’s more curious creatures: an echidna with its feet the wrong way around. The echidna, a spiny, ant-eating mammal related to the platypus, has back feet that point backwards – a quirk that the taxidermist of this specimen evidently wasn’t aware of. They have instead twisted the echidna’s feet to point forwards, ripping the skin on its ankles.

An echidna gets cleaned with a special vacuum cleaner Victoria Turk/WIRED


The museum has decided not to fix this mistake, however, as they consider it an important part of the historical record. “It reflects an interpretation of the animal at a certain point in history,” says Ashby. “We have to make those kind of ethical decisions.”

Another explanation for some of the more bizarre taxidermy features is that not all of the museum’s collection will have been made specifically for study. Some – like the owl with its teddy-bear eyes – have been given to the museum after being seized by customs. Others may be donated from amateur collections. Taxidermy used to be a popular amateur pastime, explains Mascord, so not every piece is up to the usual museum standards. Most taxidermy uses a metal form to give the animal structure, which is then bulked out with materials such as wood wool, shaped balsa wood, or foam. But in the past, she says, she’s seen taxidermy stiffed with everything from newspapers and corks to sand and peat.

This chimp's face has cracked due to changes in humidity Victoria Turk/WIRED

Read next Artist Kathryn Fleming is designing a human-made wilderness Artist Kathryn Fleming is designing a human-made wilderness

Many other specimens at the Grant Museum are very skilled pieces of taxidermy, but just need a little TLC following years of display. “Environmental factors are some of the most damaging to taxidermy collections,” says Mascord. Light causes fur and feathers to fade, and fluctuations in temperature and humidity can cause the organic material of the skin to expand and contract, which can result in tears. A beautiful chimp in the collection has ripped skin on its face and hands, and a big crack on its groin.


Alcoholic rats, ribless mice and a goat that lactates silk: inside Wellcome's bizarre animal show Animals Alcoholic rats, ribless mice and a goat that lactates silk: inside Wellcome's bizarre animal show

To fix tears like this, Mascord will humidify the skin and try to pull it back together. Many of the pieces, like a small and rather scary-looking monkey, just need a good clean: she starts with a special mini vacuum cleaner that picks up dust and old preservatives from the surface, then uses make-up sponges to pick up any remaining dirt. Bits that have fallen off, such as a bunch of tiny feathers on a taxidermy swift, will be painstakingly glued back in place. There are not many taxidermists around today, and Mascord says she often gets sent tools and parts from museums that no longer have a use from them. “I have bags and bags of old eyes,” she says.

This small woolly monkey needs a good clean UCL Grant Museum of Zoology

Only if the animal is really dirty will she attempt to wet-clean it, as this risks getting moisture on the skin and leading to further damage. She will wet-clean the fur on the small monkey in her lab using conservation-grade detergent.

Animals like the horn fish, platypus and koala bear will get new mounts to help protect them in future. Some, such as two platypuses and a rock hyrax (a guinea-pig-like mammal) are “study skins”: they are stuffed to preserve the skin for study, but not posed to resemble a real-life creature.

This is a study skin of a rock hyrax (named "Rocky") Victoria Turk/WIRED

The Grant Museum has a lot more skeletons and animals in jars than it does taxidermy, largely because these are more useful for studying comparative anatomy. But taxidermy does still have a place in biodiversity research. “A number of species have been described in recent years from museum collections, when someone’s been going through drawers of study skins,” says Ashby. You can also get DNA from some of them, he adds.


The taxidermy animals are also popular with the public, and make a good educational tool for visitors. Mascord is doing some of the current repair work in the museum itself, so that people can see the conservation process and learn more about taxidermy. “I always get asked, ‘Is it real?’ ‘Did you kill it?’ and ‘Are the eyes real?’” she says. (For the record: yes it is, no she didn’t and, no, the eyes are not real).

The koala bear will be cleaned and placed on a new base Victoria Turk/WIRED

People have a very different response to the lifelike looking taxidermy animals than they do to the clearly-dead skeletons, says Ashby, and some of the odder specimens really seem to have personality. While the cross-eyed owl needs repairing, the museum will miss its startled mascot. “To an extent, I will miss the eyes,” says Ashby. “But he’s not doing a good job of representing owlkind at the moment.”