Can taxidermy help primate conservation? Monkey Business conveys a serious message

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

More than 50 new taxidermy specimens of monkeys, apes, lemurs, lorises and bush-babies are to be revealed in the most comprehensive museum exhibition on primates ever staged

In the week that it was reported global wildlife populations have fallen by 58% since 1970 it may seem unsettling to be staring into the cold glass eyes of dead primates in a museum - however beautiful and beguiling they might be.

At National Museum Scotland they are mounting the biggest ever exhibition dedicated to primates - featuring more than 50 spectacular new taxidermy specimens of monkeys, apes, lemurs, lorises and bush-babies.

The taxidermy was specially commissioned for the exhibition, which, says the museum, is the first to show primates behaving as if they were in the wild with poses capturing the wide variety of behaviours of some of the world’s most endangered species.

With atmospheric lighting and naturalistic displays, the museum is promising “an immersive jungle experience” with visitors coming face to face with specimens ranging from soulful orangutans to fearsome mandrills.

The exhibition also hopes to illuminated the way primates have evolved and adapted, how they communicate, and the tools they have developed to obtain food.

Displays explore communication, social groups and behaviours with visitors learning more about the visual signals, language and scent-marking used by primates.

Primates’ complex social systems are investigated; a tarsier is shown using ultrasonic communication whilst a vervet monkey reveals how its different calls warn about each different predator.

A social group of Sulawesi crested macaques have been grouped to display a range of different behaviours including grooming, playing, suckling young and even greeting another primate - the visitor.

According to Andrew Kirchner, the Principal Curator of Vertebrate Biology, "visitors will enjoy an unrivalled opportunity to learn about the diversity of the primate family and to see them up close."

Perhaps more importantly, will be the insights into primates' relationship with humans today.

"They will also be able to learn about the impact our choices have on primate livelihood and what we can do to protect them,” adds Kirchner of the exhibition, which closes by looking at conservation as well as some of the challenges primates face including conflict, the spread of disease and the bush meat trade.

Endangered primates, including the Sumatran orangutan and the black-and-white ruffed lemur, make up part of the collection and the museum is hoping an important takeaway will be what we can do to help - whether that be making better-informed consumer choices or lobbying. 

Perhaps visitors will be left pondering how museums could well become the last repository of our closest living relatives - some of the most beautiful and threatened creatures on earth.

Monkey Business, December 9 2016 to Sunday April 23 2017 at National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. See http://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland/whats-on/monkey-business/ for more information.

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/science-and-nature/art564561-can-taxidermy-help-primate-conservation