The Authentic Animal: Inside the Odd and Obsessive World of Taxidermy
Автор:Dave Madden Год: 2012 Издание: [не указанo] Страниц: 288 ISBN: 1250014727 "[An] engagingly offbeat study . . . let's us in on the bizarre and sometimes repellent world of taxidermy." —The Wall Street Journal Why would someone want to create or own the mounted skin of a dead animal? That’s the question Dave Madden explores in The Authentic Animal. Madden starts his journey with the life story of Carl Akeley, the father of modern taxidermy. Akeley started small by stuffing a canary, but by the end of his life he had created the astonishing Akeley Hall of African Mammals at The American Museum of Natural History. What Akeley strove for and what fascinates Madden is the attempt by the taxidermist to replicate the authentic animal, looking as though it’s still alive. To get a first-hand glimpse at this world, Madden travels to the World Taxidermy Championships, the garage workplaces of people who mount freeze-dried pets for bereaved owners, and the classrooms of a taxidermy academy where students stretch deer pelts over foam bases. On his travels, he looks at...