Stuffed Animals

This post is dedicated to a tall brunette with a fetish for my humour. Christa, baby… this is for you ;)

Last weekend I went to the museum. I LOVE the museum. In Cape Town we have one BIG one with all the nature vibes. This is the museum to which I refer.

I love the whale section, the dinosaur section and the mammal section. If they ever re-opened the insect display, I’d love that too. Now, wonderfully and unbeknownst to me, an incredible man named Peter Flack – a writer and hunter – donated what seems to be his ENTIRE taxidermy collection to the museum.

These specimens are exquisite. Their pelts shine in comparison with the tired models that have stood frozen since what I can only assume is the 1930s. Leopards stand frozen, mid leap, glass eyes glistening. A buck and hyena are caught in a moment of battle that can only make you wonder who has the upper hand – the hyena seems to have his teeth inches from the buck’s throat, but what’s this, look at the horn poised to impale the hyena! A rare jungle elephant stands proud, and you can see the fine hairs on his skin – rumoured to be the only stuffed specimen of this species.

How did I get so passionate about good taxidermy? I’ve considered this all week, from about the time that Christa looked at me and declared that I needed to put this all in a blog post. Is it strange that my eyes sparkle when I talk about taxidermy?

I remember reading a book when I was younger, much younger, called “A Wheelie to Friendship” by Jenny Bow. The Krugerrands were inside the stuffed cats all along… yes! I know, AMAZING.

Later I read the novel, “The Conjuror’s Bird” by Martin Davies, about the search for the only stuffed specimen of a rare bird. They described some of the taxidermy technique… riveting stuff!

Then again, maybe I’m just morbid?

More on the Peter Flack donation:
http://www.peterflack.co.za/trophyRoom/trophyRoom.html
http://iziko.org.za/static/landing/statement-peter-flack-collection-donation