THE WONDER STUFF
TAXIDERMIST REVEALS HOW HE BROUGHT MONKEY MAGIC TO LIFE FOR NEW EXHIBITION
Steve Toher jokes that his job often makes him go ape.
For the last three years, the taxidermist has spent every working hour preparing, moulding and mounting more than 50 different kinds of primate.
He has helped to preserve everything from a giant Western lowland gorilla to a tiny mouse lemur.
He has styled monkeys that are swinging through trees, searching for grubs or even howling to their friends.
When he hasn’t been physically working with real skin and bones, he has been reading books on the animals, studying photos, watching TV shows and even visiting the zoo to study them.
Next month, the fruits of his long labour are set to finally go on show at a major exhibition being staged at the National Museum of Scotland – Monkey Business.
But he says there is nothing about preparing for the exhibition on primates that has driven him bananas. Steve, 52, who is employed by the museum on a freelance basis, said: “Working on this exhibition has been one of the most challenging jobs I have ever been asked to do but one of the most satisfying too.
“There are 65 different specimens going on display and I’ve worked on 54 of them – and a snake.
“I’ve had to absolutely immerse myself in monkeys, finding out as much information about them as I possibly could.
“But natural history – the scientific study of animals – is my absolute obsession.”
Steve, of Sheffield, was just 14 when he first tried his hand at taxidermy.
Almost 40 years on, he is one of the country’s most experienced taxidermists and one of just a handful asked to work on museum exhibitions.
He said: “My interest in taxidermy came after I took a dead bird home when I was pretty young. Then I started volunteering at the taxidermy department at my local museum.
“It’s not a love of dead things that makes people interested in taxidermy, it’s a love of nature. “Everyone talks about bout‘ stuffing’ animals for taxidermy but that’s not what we do. We have too carefully study the skeleton and muscles structure of the specimen we’re working on, then make a mould of the body from polystyrene.
“You mount the skin of the specimen on the mannequin you have made.
“Almost all of the animals for this exhibition have come from zoos and they have died because of old age, something medical or as a result of an accident.
“A post-mortem on them will have been carried out by a vet and then they are given to the museum for scientific study.”
All 65 primates featuring in the exhibition had their taxider special commissioned by the National Museum of Scotland.
Steve was asked by museum bosses to putut his skills to work on everything from apes and lemurs to howling monkeys and bush babies. Atmospheric lighting and naturalistic displays will simulate a jungle experience as visitors enter the exhibition and come face to face with the primates.
The project explores how they have evolved and adapted, how they communicate and the tools they have developed to obtain food.
Steve said: “The time it takes to work on each specimen depends on its size. With a small animal, you carve the mannequin easily, turning the polystyrene in your hands until you get the shape you want. But with a big animal, that’s not so easy.
“A mouse lemur might take only a few days while a gorilla would take a couple of months to do. I work with the museum staff on what
Expert It might sound bananas to some but I love my job
dynamic poses they want for each animal – to best show off how they behave in the wild. “You have to find out as much information as you can about how they behave and move then set to work on creating the right pose.” Hand-blown glass eyes have been imported for each monkey from a specialist company in Germany, while casts of the animals’ mouths are taken to copy their teeth. Steve, who attended art school, said: “You want the finished model to be as accurate as possible. A lot of the faces have had to be painted on but I am pleased with the results.” He has used his taxidermy skills in the past to work on everything from lions and tigers to antelopes and even a 14ft crocodile. He hopes visitors to the exhibition – which runs from December 9 to April 23 at the National Museum of Scotland – will be inspired to learn more about the animals on display.
Steve added: “People imagine taxidermists spend their days working on family pets who have died or dealing with specimens from the hunting, shooting or fishing industries but that’s not what I do.
“The taxidermy I do isn’t a craft or hobby, it’s for a scientific purpose – to help teach people more about the specimen.
“My own house isn’t filled with examples of taxidermy, although I do have a couple of collectors’ items in my study. It’s definitely not your average job but I love doing it.”
A mouse lemur might take only a few days to do but a gorilla can take two months