Taxidermy – the technical name for stuffing animals – is a sophisticated process in which only the animal’s skin is used. Leather is used to “dress” a polyurethane mannequin, similar to the ones we see in shop windows. In the past, however, this was not the case. The animal was opened, its viscera removed and, in their place, cotton, jute or straw was placed – hence the word stuffing, now out of use. The polyurethane dummy began to be used in the 1950s and offers two advantages: it is more resistant to insect attack and has an anatomy identical to that of the animal. “In theory, animals taxidermied in this way last forever. Even with the most rudimentary techniques, there are already animals that are 300 years old,” says taxidermist Luiz Carlos Mendes Antunes, from the USP Zoology Museum. Follow, below, how the “stuffing” of a jaguar, the largest feline in Brazil, is done.
Step by step to eternity
The “stuffing” of an animal must begin within 24 hours of its death. After that time your flesh starts to rot.
1. The first step is to make a plaster death mask of the animal. It provides a three-dimensional image of the animal’s face and is a perfect copy of its features, showing every detail of its face.
2. Then, with a measuring tape, the taxidermist takes the main measurements of the animal, such as the circumference of the abdomen, the total length from nose to tail, width of the head and distance from nose to eye, among others
3. Using wires and supports, the animal is frozen in the position in which it will be “stuffed”. When he’s stiff and in the right posture, it’s time to make a copy of the body on a plaster cast.
4. From the plaster cast, another resin cast is made. It will be employed in the foundry of the polyurethane dummy. If necessary, the taxidermist carves final details on the piece, which will be dressed with the skin later.
5. Parallel to the manufacturing of the dummy, the skin is removed, the only part used – organs and carcass are discarded. Once the leather is removed, it is tanned in acid baths that dissolve traces of dirt and grease, preventing it from rotting.
6. The next step is to remove the endodermis, a thin internal membrane glued to the skin. Once this is done, the leather is bathed with a chemical preservative and oiled to gain flexibility.
7. Eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue and even the tail are fake. The eyes are made of glass, the tail is made of flexible polyurethane and the ears, nose and tongue are made of polystyrene plastic. All these prostheses are fixed on the mannequin before the skin
8. The final step is to dress the mannequin in the skin. It is fitted and fixed with a special glue. Then it is sewn. Stitches are placed in hard-to-see places, such as the lower belly, to make the animal look as real as possible.