'The National Museum of Scotland'

The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is currently undergoing "an incredible transformation into a 21st-century museum experience," a refurbishment costing £46.4 million!

I found this article 'Museum searches new 'realistic animals for stuffing' on the BBC News website about a new collection of animals for the re-opening. I'll definitely be heading over in the summer to check it out! too bad my project will be over by then but will still be really interesting!

I also came across this article 'Zoo taxidermy really gets under your skin' by Catherine Salmond from June 2010 on the Edinburgh Evening News website also talking about the Edinburgh museum refurbishment and the creation of animal models. One of the more interesting/relevant sections-

"For him the arrival of giant creatures, usually from zoos – often lions and tigers – is a regular occurrence. It allows him to conduct intricate research aimed at enhancing our understanding of these awe-inspiring species."


" 'Our main aim is to provide resources for research.'...Max [a 15-year-old Asian lion who arrived from Dudley Zoo, in the Midlands, two years ago after dying of old age.] will...be folded up and put into one of the hundreds of metal drawers in the Granton building, becoming one of 13 of his kind to be used for further research into the animals and their way of life."

"Phil spends hours with Andrew, recreating how the animals would have behaved in their natural habitat, analysing pictures and video footage for an exact recreation, before attaching their skins, or feathers, modelling eyes from glass and touching them up with paint. Taxidermy is a complex art.


'We want people to suspend their disbelief when they look at the displays,' Andrew smiles."


As well as the main aim being science- the discovery and understanding of animals and their was of live and movement- I find this is very similar to animation. this use of studying pictures and video footage is definitely something all animators should be doing to create credible movement and I think this relates strongly to the technical artists too. They need that strong understanding of the movement too so that they can create a rig with the ability to provide such for the animators. 


There is mention of a TV programme 'Inside Nature's Giants' on Channel 4 which sounds like it would be quite good for me to watch however it was aired in June, I'll have a search and see if I can get hold of it!