Museum exhibits “ugly animals” that don’t look like themselves – NRK Vestland

– They look a little weird, says museum curator Christina Holmefjord.

She is standing next to a peacock that has had its feathers trimmed.

On Saturday, the Bergen University Museum opened the exhibition “Under the skin: from corpses to living sculptures”.

The exhibition will show how the museum’s more than 150,000 natural history objects have been created and preserved over the centuries, and how they have come to the oldest museum in Norway.

Several of the animals have had an unfortunate appearance since they were detained. They have been named “the ugly animals” and are part of the exhibition that opened on Saturday.

– Does not look like himself

All of the animals had previously been on display, but had actually been removed from the museum forever when the museum reopened in October 2019.

Some of the evicted animals are still able to return after high demand from the public.

The animals were simply too poorly made to be displayed as examples of their kind in ordinary exhibits, and have therefore been given a separate hook in this exhibit.

See a selection of the ugly animals:

The new exhibition tries to explain why animals look like this.

– Animals have been presented as special examples for this exhibition. They are “ugly” because they do not look like themselves. The point is, people should Google the Latin name to see what the animal should really look like, Holmefjord says.

Requires high competition

The exhibition also displays examples of good craftsmanship.

According to Holmefjord, there are many reasons why stuffed animals stay the way they are. The craft called “taxidermy” requires precision and a solid knowledge of the animal for the result to be good.

– Those who made them may not have known what it should look like, or they just had some drawings. Taxidermy is a craft subject that requires a high level of competence, says Holmefjord.

– Isn’t it a bit degrading to call them ugly animals?

– Yes, it is degrading to the poor animals. I like to say that it is not the animals that are ugly, but the crafts that are not in order, says the curator.

Turtle Shield Found on Stairs

Among the treasures that have found a place in the exhibition is also a 50 centimeter long turtle shield.

The mysterious shield suddenly appeared on the stairs outside the museum on a Saturday in late June. There it was placed by an anonymous donor, who claims that the shield is more than 100 years old.

It is still a mystery who came up with the special gift.

– It’s funny that we don’t know who he is, says Holmefjord.