The animals you see on exhibit in natural-history museums are the product of taxidermy. So are the reptiles and birds, and the fish that proud fishermen display on their walls. We think of them as “stuffed animals,” and in most cases, this is just what taxidermy involves.

Taxidermy is the art of mounting birds, animals, fish, and reptiles. It has been practiced for about 300 years, and the earliest “stuffed animal” in existence is a rhinoceros that was mounted in the sixteenth century.