10 Wild Facts About Taxidermy That You Probably Didn’t Know

It’s hard to escape the influence of the Victorian era when talking about taxidermy. During that period, a fascination with death, science, and the natural world led people to decorate their houses with stuffed animals.

These days, taxidermy is a bit divisive. Some people are disgusted by the thought of stripping the skin off a dead animal and then stuffing it or stretching it over a mount. But others appreciate taxidermy as a form of preservation, an educational tool, or even an artistic pursuit. Whichever end of the spectrum you fall on, the ten facts about taxidermy below are sure to surprise.

Related: 10 of the Weirdest Museums in America

10 Taxidermy Dodos Are Usually Inaccurate

Although dodos have been extinct since the early 1700s, people tend to have a pretty clear image of what the bird looked like: plump, stubby wings, and a large hooked beak. Most taxidermied dodos confirm this image, but these specimens aren’t actually accurate.

The only soft tissue from a dodo that we still have today is kept at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. There’s some skin still on the skull, a feather, and a few skeletal remains, including a foot. The taxidermied dodos typically seen in museums are actually cobbled together using parts of other birds and were based on paintings—most famously by Roelant Savery—which science now says were inaccurate. In 2014, scientists were able to recreate what the bird looked like by taking 3D scans of two dodo skeletons, revealing that they were actually much slimmer and more athletic than Savery’s famous paintings.^[1]

9 Some Libraries and Museums Loan Out Taxidermy

Libraries are best known for loaning books, but there are a few that loan taxidermy specimens. While the average person probably doesn’t want to keep the taxidermied body of a skunk in their home for a week, the specimens are incredibly useful as a teaching aid.

The San Diego Natural History Museum runs a taxidermy loan program called Nature to You. There are 1,300 specimens in the collection, encompassing mammals, birds, and fish. Alaska Resources Library and Information Services (ARLIS) also used to loan out taxidermy, but the collection was pulled in 2024 after two people became ill. It was later discovered that the specimens contained arsenic, mercury, and lead.^[2]

8 A Cloned Sheep Was Preserved Via Taxidermy

July 5, 1996, marked the birth of the first-ever cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep (named after Dolly Parton). Dolly was grown from a single mammary gland cell at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before this breakthrough, scientists thought that specialized cells—such as skin cells or heart cells—didn’t have all the information necessary to create new life. Dolly’s birth disproved that.

Despite her abnormal beginnings as a clone, Dolly lived a normal life among a flock of sheep at the Institute. She had six lambs of her own, spread out across three years. Her life came to an end in February 2003, after a CT scan revealed cancerous tumors in her chest. Being so scientifically important, her remains were taxidermied, and she now calls the National Museum of Scotland home.^[3]

7 The Two-Headed Calf Museum

When he was in his 20s, Henry S. Rosenthal saw a two-headed calf, and it inadvertently kicked off a lifelong fascination. Not long afterward, his brother-in-law saw a taxidermied two-headed calf in a store in Berkeley, so Rosenthal bought it. “I never intended to collect any more,” he told Atlas Obscura. But a week later, he heard that another one was for sale in Greenwich Village, and he couldn’t resist.

Rosenthal now runs the Two-Headed Calf MOOseum in San Francisco, which he claims is the world’s largest collection of two-headed calves. “There’s no way of knowing for sure, but I claim it, and until someone tells me I’m wrong, I continue to wear the crown,” he said. Each calf in the museum—there are 50 when counted by head—is a little bit different, with the rare condition known as polycephaly producing slightly different results each time. Some share a neck, while others have separate necks and even extra legs.^[4]

6 An Extinct Dog Is Preserved Via Taxidermy

There are a fair number of extinct animals that have been preserved via taxidermy, including the pink-headed duck and the quagga. There’s also a single taxidermy specimen of an extinct dog breed: the turnspit.

Turnspits most closely resembled modern-day dachshunds and terriers. They were specifically bred during the 16th century to work in the kitchens of the wealthy. Back then, meat was cooked on a spit over an open fire, and these dogs were placed into what was essentially an oversized hamster wheel attached to the wall. As the dog ran, the spit would turn.

When ovens began replacing open fires, turnspits were no longer needed. They weren’t commonly kept as pets, and the breed soon went extinct. The only known turnspit, a dog named Whiskey, can be found preserved at Abergavenny Museum in Wales. That her owner went to the effort of having her stuffed suggests she may have been one of the rare loved examples of the breed.^[5]

5 Anthropomorphic Taxidermy Was a Victorian Craze

Although not popular now, people loved anthropomorphic taxidermy during the Victorian period. The most famous creator of such scenes was Walter Potter, who made his first display at the age of 19. Called The Death and Burial of Cock Robin, it features 98 different British bird species at the funeral of the titular robin, complete with an owl gravedigger.

Potter gained a lot of attention for his taxidermy and continually moved his collection to larger spaces as more people visited his museum in Sussex, England. One of his most famous and elaborate scenes features 20 kittens decked out in extravagant outfits for the wedding of a cat bride and groom.

Despite Potter’s popularity, his scenes gained attention for novelty rather than skill. “His animals had goggly eyes, and you could see the stitches on them,” says taxidermist Polly Morgan. “They were amusing because they were so badly done.” ^[6]

4 The Oldest Taxidermy Specimen Is a Crocodile

Taxidermy may be a preservation technique, but specimens don’t last forever. The oldest known example is a crocodile that can be found hanging in a church called Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime Immacolate in Ponte Nossa, Italy. Its tough, leathery skin is likely why it has stood the test of time compared to other taxidermied animals.

The full history of the crocodile is unknown, but it dates back to at least 1534, with a document from that year detailing its removal from the church. The huge reptile went missing for many years, but it was eventually found in the church’s attic during the 18th century and then hung from the ceiling, where it has remained ever since. Crocodiles aren’t native to Europe, so how this one ended up taxidermied in an Italian church remains a mystery.^[7]

3 Europeans Thought the Platypus Was a Taxidermy Hoax

The platypus is an odd animal, unusually combining characteristics of mammals, reptiles, and birds. They’re also endemic to eastern Australia, so when word of the strange creature reached Europe at the end of the 1700s, people were understandably skeptical. Many scientists believed the animal was simply a taxidermy hoax.

In 1799, zoologist George Shaw examined a platypus for signs of taxidermic meddling, but he found no evidence of foul play and admitted that it had to be a real animal. He later wrote that the specimen “naturally excites the idea of some deceptive preparation by artificial means” and that he “almost doubt[ed] the testimony of my own eyes.”

Other scientists remained unconvinced. In 1823, Robert Knox maintained that the platypus was one of the “monstrous impostors” created by the Chinese. He argued that it should be classed alongside “eastern mermaids and other works of art.” It took many years for the scientific community as a whole to accept that the platypus was genuine.^[8]

2 People Can Stand Inside the World’s Largest Taxidermy Specimen

Visitors to the Gothenburg Museum in Sweden can view the largest taxidermy specimen ever created and—on special occasions—even walk inside it. Known as the Malm Whale, this juvenile blue whale measures 52 feet (16 meters) from nose to tail. The hollowed-out interior is up to 10 feet (3 meters) high. It has been decorated with benches, carpet, cloth wall hangings, and even lights.

People once entered the whale via its open mouth, which was accessible to the public for decades. That changed in the 1930s after a couple was caught having sex inside the whale’s interior.

The whale met its end in 1865 after becoming beached in Askim Bay, Sweden. It took two days for the whale to die, after which it was purchased by August Wilhelm Malm, a taxidermist and curator at the Gothenburg Museum. The skin took months to prepare, being treated with salt, sawdust, pipe clay, arsenic, and mercury chloride. A wooden frame was built slightly too large, requiring 30,000 pins to attach the skin and leaving a visible strip of exposed wood along the belly.^[9]

1 A Few Humans Have Been Taxidermied

It’s typically seen as highly disrespectful to taxidermize a human, but there are a few documented cases throughout history. One of the most famous and controversial examples is the man historically known as the “Negro of Banyoles.” His real name is unknown. He was a Tswana warrior who died in 1831. On the evening of his burial, most of his body was stolen by French taxidermy dealer Jules Verreaux. A metal wire was used for his spine, wooden boards acted as shoulder blades, and newspaper filled out the rest of his body. He was dressed in a loincloth, posed with a shield and spear, and displayed publicly in France.

The man was later moved to the Darder Museum of Banyoles, Spain. At some point, his loincloth was replaced with an orange skirt, and his skin was darkened with shoe polish to make him appear “blacker.” It wasn’t until 1997 that international outrage over the treatment of his remains led to action. The parts of his body that could be separated from non-human materials were returned to Botswana for burial.

Another human preserved via taxidermy was Julia Pastrana, a woman born in Mexico with hypertrichosis, a rare condition that caused excessive hair growth. Pastrana toured internationally as a sideshow performer with her manager and eventual husband, Theodore Lent. She died in 1860 after childbirth, along with her infant son, who also had the condition. Lent had both bodies preserved and continued exhibiting them for profit.

Pastrana’s remains continued to be displayed well into the 20th century, even after public attitudes shifted. In 2013, more than 150 years after her death, Julia Pastrana was finally laid to rest in Mexico, bringing a grim chapter of taxidermy history to a close.^[10]