The body of Murray, the rhinoceros who lived a long life in the Tallinn Zoo is about to receive the finishing touch – the skin has been mounted on the model and is currently drying. The whole procedure has followed its due course. When completed the stuffed animal will be exposed to the public in the Estonian Museum of Natural History hopefully in early spring. A RARE SPECIES Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) is one of the most endangered species of mammals of the world, just a few thousand of whom still live in wild. It is the morbid interest of man towards the horns growing on its nose that has taken the animal to the verge of extinction. Theories from myth to quackery claim the horn to contain substances raising sex drive as well as curing cancer. Despite versatile medical research keratin has been detected to hold absolutely no healing power. It is a shame we still today find people who desire the horn of rhinoceros, which in its essence is the same as all hair, nails, feathers or woollen socks. THE PROTEST The decreasing number of rhinoceros is the result of a mindless hunt for the horn. That is why the stuffed Murray is not equipped with its original horns, but their copies. This stands for protest – looking at the stuffed body and recalling Murray one ought not to forget the reason why these animals are about to die out. The original horns have long since been deposited in a proper storeroom and are not exposed to the public for the very same reason. It is common practice also elsewhere in the world to exchange the horns and fongs by replicas but these are made to look as authentic as possible. In Murray’s case WE SHALL DO IT DIFFERENTLY. We thought what colour should the modelled horns be. At first, we considered red, the colour of blood and war yet also that of love.We finally opted for clean white - the colour of peace. Of course exact plastic copies have also been made of the horns which can always be attached to the stuffed animal later. At public exposure white mock-ups will be used. THE MESSAGE No rhinoceros are to be found in Estonian nature but we do have plenty of endangered species. The stuffed Murray is a black rhinoceros with white artificial horns. His second life in the museum draws our attention to the importance of nature protection and may-be it will increase the resposibilty of man in front of nature – black and white, the truth – a lie, life and death, Yin - Yang. We hope this message to reach also the international media. Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rhinoceros |
