Snow leopard taxidermy

Описание: It was such an honor to work on a Snow leopard, a truly beautiful creature.❄️

Snow leopards are known as the “ghost of the mountains” because of their elusive nature. In addition to being very shy, the coloring of their coats make them difficult to see against the snowy, rocky environment they live in.

Watching a video of a snow leopard chasing prey down a cliff was astonishing. Its agility and flexibility seemed almost otherworldly. The more I researched, the more fascinating I found this creature. I felt honored to work on such a beautiful specimen and did my best throughout the process.

I fixed the carcass in the desired posture, cast the head and four limbs, and then added clay to sculpt them. I made a fiberglass mold, even though I might not have another opportunity to work on a snow leopard taxidermy in the future. I just wanted to practice mold making and thought there might be a chance for making a recreation.

When I was applying the skin to the form, the face didn’t look quite right, so I spent several days fixing it until I was satisfied. I also installed the ears too close together and had to make significant corrections later. In the end, I’m happy with how it turned out.

This Snow leopard was born at the Mulhouse Zoo in France in 2001 and moved to Seoul Zoo in 2003. He spent most of his life there and died in 2015. He was the last living Snow leopard in captivity in South Korea, as they’re not native to Korea. Now, Korean children can only see them through taxidermy specimens. This highlights the educational function of taxidermy.☘️