arsanatomica:Making drawings of an otter. This little girl died at a sanctuary and was borrowed from
arsanatomica:Making drawings of an otter. This little girl died at a sanctuary and was borrowed from a friend for the day. I’m going through all these old posts for the book, so you guys are gonna see some of my earliest posts.One of the more common questions I get is: Where do you get your animals?People usually think of things like hunting, or roadkill, but I think the answer is often a lot more mundane than expected.Like…. well… Borrowing.This young female river otter lived at a nature center until she died for some reason. After a veterinarian examined and necropsied her, she was stitched back up and left in the Nature Center freezer for several years.The Nature Center then wanted to do something with her, but because of serious freezer burn, her skin was no good for taxidermy anymore. They sent her to a taxidermist to have her skeleton done. I borrowed her from the taxidermist for my class. We took a look at her, dissected her and returned the bones to the taxidermist.No one seemed to want her skin, so I ended up with it. I still have it. It’s decent… she just doesn’t have any feet because her paws were badly damaged by freezer burn. I used to bring her to my ecology classes, but I’ve not taught ecology in years, so she’s just in storage now. I’m thinking of just selling her so she’s not gathering dust. -- source link