Mariton: Nature Camp – Mammals
by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager. Photos by Carole Mebus.
Today was a great program for a Friday. Scott Shoenigger of Hunter’s Moon Taxidermy brought in literally a truck load of animal pelts and a box of predator skulls. He talked about how mammals hide can be removed and preserved. Taxidermy is one of the oldest jobs known to humans, so Scott spent a little talking about his job.
He spread the hides of bears, moose, deer, coyotes, mink, fox, otter, etc. on the floor. Then he invited the children to sit on the hides on the floor. How cool is that? Of course, having access to all those different animal skins was a sensory overload, so I am not sure how much they learned about mammals today. They will remember how big a moose is, and what a fox pelt feels like.