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extinct native bird series for museum

'cryptotaxidermy'

This was one of our first contracts and what a challenge, recreating seven extinct birds of New Zealand for Te Papas Blood Earth Fire exhibition. They are: one male, one female and one baby stout legged Moa, two Adzebills, one north Island goose, and last but not least, one finch’s duck.

So where do we start with a project like this. Well, we treated the process like a forensic investigation. First stop was the bone room in the bowels of Te Papa where they have a huge store of the bones from many species that once roamed this land. We directly copied these bones to give us an accurate picture of what they looked like and how they went together. In the workshop, we assembled these bones to give us a base point in which to start recreating these birds. From there we constructed small scale articulated Marquette’s which helped the curators determine the final pose for each bird. Once we had the poses determined, we added muscle and fat layers to bring us up to the skin layer. The closest living relative of each species was determined to find the nearest feather structure for each bird. The Moa for instance we found to be very close to an emu. Each species feather was gathered, and colour tests conducted. From there we chose the appropriate type for each bird.

We used crypto-taxidermy techniques to invent pelts for each of the birds. One of these techniques involved stitching a number of skins together to become a new shape, taken from patterns designed for each bird.

At the same time as all this was happening we sculpted the faces and feet to a realistic finish, as it was important they appear lifelike and stand up to close inspection.

During the whole process we consulted frequently with the Te Papa specialists Alan Tennyson, Trevor Worthy and Eric Dorfman who were invaluable in the whole process as they had a wealth of knowledge in this field and had even discovered some of the Te Papa bones and had written books on the subject.