Dead Ringer? Visitors' Understanding of Taxidermy as Authentic and Educational Museum Exhibits

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Museum professionals value authentic museum specimens because they are believed to promote inspirational and educational experiences for visitors; however, limited research has tested whether visitors value museum specimens in these ways. In this study, 4- to 10-year-olds and adults (n = 228), who were visiting the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, were asked to explain whether a taxidermied rabbit belonged in a museum and could help museum visitors learn about rabbits. Participants responded about a taxidermied rabbit that was presented either as a touchable object, inside an exhibition case, or alongside a realistic soft toy rabbit because this was expected to provide a useful context to support children's responses. As expected, the number of visitors who thought that the taxidermied rabbit belonged in a museum and could help visitors learn about rabbits increased with age and was greater when it was presented alongside the toy rabbit. Visitors explained their decisions by referring to the stillness of the taxidermied animal that permitted detailed study, its authentic features, and its previous status as a living animal. Implications for promoting visitors' understanding of taxidermy are discussed.