Best natural history taxidermy dioramas

[Breckenridge]

I have never been to the AMNH but you can visit it via Google Maps and i have to say both rhino Dioramas are impressive Look at their Horns. The Leopard stalking a hog is cool too.

I like when the AMNH sneaks smaller animals in the dioramas with the larger ones. I remember seeing on google maps there is an elephant shrew in the ostrich and warthog diorama, a hedgehog in the Impala diorama, a gaboon viper in the mandrill diorama, crested porcupines in the white rhino diorama, a ground squirrel in the bighorn sheep diorama, chickadees in the fisher and porcupine diorama, a Pine Barrens treefrog in the mink diorama, a black-billed magpie in the mule deer diorama, and even some California butterflies in the coyote diorama.

 

[German Zoo World]

I like when the AMNH sneaks smaller animals in the dioramas with the larger ones. I remember seeing on google maps there is an elephant shrew in the Ostrich and Warthog diorama, a hedgehog in the Impala diorama, crested porcupines in the White rhino diorama, a ground squirrel in the Bighorn Sheep diorama, chickadees in the Fisher and Porcupine diorama, a Pine Barrens treefrog in the Mink diorama, a black-billed magpie in the Mule deer diorama, and even some California butterflies in the Coyote diorama.

I have looked for the Elephant shrew but i couldnt find it and i have Not Seen the frog and the magpie. Have you Seen the cottonmouth snake in the American black bear Diorama?

 

[German Zoo World]

Unfortunately I haven't yet been to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum but I just googled the waterhole diorama you mentioned and it is very impressive.

I think the key difference between this and a lot of other dioramas seems to be the amount of space conveyed in this scene (all I can say is the galleries must be huge!) as they have literally fitted not only a couple of elephants but also giraffe and buffalo in there.

It really makes the setup look more naturalistic whereas in many dioramas like for example those of the Powell Cotton Museum in the UK (which are interesting, beautiful and of historical value in their own special way) there is a limited amount of space in which a huge number of species are crammed in an image which would be very unlikely to see in nature.



Yes, I totally agree with you about the North American Hall at the AMNH. It is most definitely another firm favourite of mine in terms of dioramas and natural history art.

I saw these way back in 2010 and I do think that they very effectively convey the natural history of North America (especially to visitors from outside the region) giving the viewer this impression of the grandeur and richness of the mammalian wildlife of the continent.

If I remember correctly I think these were also created by Akeley weren't they ?

Some personal favourites of mine from that hall are the jaguar diorama that you posted a picture of (beautiful painting to capture those multihued pastel colours of the dawn sky and the drama of an apex predator patrolling his territory) and I also love the timber wolves pursuing prey through the snow under the night sky lit by the aurora borealis.



They are amazing aren't they ?! These two look so much more placid than the herd of African elephants in the African Hall of Mammals but as you've said they still very much command the respect of the viewer with their imposing bulk and deadly looking tusks.

The attention to details such as wrinkles and poise by the taxidermist is truly astounding and you really get the impression that these guys who were working at the beginning of the 20th century were true artists and the absolute top of their game.

Time has stood still for these animals but imagine how many generations of visitors over the century have marveled at this pair ?

QUOTE="
Onychorhynchus coronatus what is your Favorite AMNH Diorama?

 

[Breckenridge]

I have looked for the Elephant shrew but i couldnt find it and i have Not Seen the frog and the magpie. Have you Seen the cottonmouth snake in the American black bear Diorama?

The elephant shrew is on the skull fragment in the lower right corner of the diorama, the frog is in the lower left corner among the pitcher plants, and the magpie is in the bush on the middle left edge of the diorama.
I did see the cottonmouth in the black bear diorama and there is also an Ivory-billed woodpecker and several white ibises painted into the background. I also just learned there's three squirrel treefrogs hidden throughout the diorama.

This page on the museum's website goes into detail on each diorama in the North American Mammal Hall: Hall of North American Mammals | AMNH

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

QUOTE="
Onychorhynchus coronatus what is your Favorite AMNH Diorama?

It was a long time ago that I visited the AMNH (would love to revisit one day) but I do remember being very impressed with the dioramas and some of the halls in particular.

I found the North American mammal hall to be the most interesting hall conceptually in the way it showcased the grandeur and beauty of the mammalian fauna of the continent:

Unfortunately I couldn't find pictures of the two dioramas in the gallery that I liked the most from the North American hall which were the jaguar at dawn and the wolves under the aurora borealis.


Photo credits to @Screvier20 , @savethelephant , @carlos55 and @twilighter.

 

[German Zoo World]

It was a long time ago that I visited the AMNH (would love to revisit one day) but I do remember being very impressed with the dioramas and some of the halls in particular.

I found the North American mammal hall to be the most interesting hall conceptually in the way it showcased the grandeur and beauty of the mammalian fauna of the continent:

Mountain Lion - ZooChat

Unfortunately I couldn't find pictures of the two dioramas in the gallery that I liked the most from the North American hall which were the jaguar at dawn and the wolves under the aurora borealis.


Photo credits to @Screvier20 , @savethelephant , @carlos55 and @twilighter.

What did you think about the rhinos and the Leopard/hog, mountain Gorilla and Tiger Dioramas?

 

[Breckenridge]

Not only do I love the taxidermy itself in the AMNH dioramas, but the beauty of the painted backgrounds are something I can really get lost in.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

What did you think about the rhinos and the Leopard/hog, mountain Gorilla and Tiger Dioramas?

I remember being impressed with both the scene as if a moment caught in time / snapshot on a mountain side and the story behind the mountain gorilla diorama and Akeley's contribution to the conservation of the species was very moving.

The tiger diorama was not particularly impressive to me as somehow the cats looked faded and unreal or inoffensive in someway.

I can't remember seeing the leopard and hog one in the African mammal hall but I must have seen it at the time and have seen a picture of it online since, I think it is a scene bursting with tension and you can see the leopard about to ambush its prey.

I do remember the Indian leopard and peacock diorama in the Asiatic mammal hall and being very impressed with it and again the feeling of looking in on a snapshot of a moment caught in suspended animation.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

In terms of scale I remember being most impressed by the naturalism and size of the African and Asiatic elephants and how the taxidermist had managed to model such large animals so incredibly well down to the very last details of the wrinkles of their skin :

I think that these seemed almost spooky in their realism, it was as if they could come to life and cause carnage in the gallery.

Photo credits to @savethelephant and @Sarus Crane.

 

[Breckenridge]

The Siberian tiger and Giant panda in the AMNH's Hall of Biodiversity used to be in the Hall of Asian Mammals. In an unfinished expansion of the Hall focusing on Northern Asian mammals that was eventually replaced by the Hall of Asian Peoples. It's a shame this expansion wasn't finished and still around.

AMNH Research Library | Digital Special Collections | Browse Items

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The Siberian tiger and Giant panda in the AMNH's Hall of Biodiversity used to be in the Hall of Asian Mammals. In an unfinished expansion of the Hall focusing on Northern Asian mammals that was eventually replaced by the Hall of Asian Peoples. It's a shame this expansion wasn't finished and still around.

AMNH Research Library | Digital Special Collections | Browse Items

I remember the snarling Siberian tiger in the hall of biodiversity, a really impressive specimen.

I think its a shame it never did get put into its own diorama as it would have been far more impressive than the Bengal tiger diorama in the Hall of Asian mammals.

Photo credits to @Sarus Crane.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Not only do I love the taxidermy itself in the AMNH dioramas, but the beauty of the painted backgrounds are something I can really get lost in.

Yes, totally agree, just the sheer amount of work and research that the museum staff put into the creation of the dioramas to ensure that quality of realism.

My favourite one in this sense was the klipspringer and baboon diorama because of the way the clouds give a sense of the hour of the day and the passing of time (even though the scene is timeless).

I do think the background paintings in the African hall of mammals are the most impressive in terms of what they achieve in conveying the openness of space and the horizon / light conditions:

Beautiful painted background with baboon troop visible in this oryx and grants gazelle waterhole diorama scene:

Painted background of Ethiopian mountains and sky in this mountain nyala diorama :

View of veldt background and horizon painted background in ostrich and warthog diorama:

Painted background of Nile scene with lechwe , hippo and shoebill:

Painted background of Angolan wooden savanha in giant sable antelope diorama:

Painted background of savanha mudwallow in white rhino diorama:

Painted background of view of landscape and distant mountains in black rhino diorama:

Sunlight passing through bamboo forest thicket in bongo diorama :

Beautiful landscape painting behind apes in mountain gorilla diorama :

Painted Serengeti background giving perspective of greater numbers of herd in wildebeest, blesbok and springbok diorama:

Painted background giving same perspective of greater number of herd in impala diorama:

Background adds tension to scene with predator viewing distant prey in lion diorama:

Photo credits to @twilighter , @Sarus Crane and @carlos55.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

There is this page about the life and work of the man who painted these backgrounds James Perry Wilson that some of you might find interesting :

Painting Actuality: Chapter 6: The African Hall

 

[Pleistohorse]

Another interesting moment caught in time can be found on the second level of the Africa Hall, on the south wall is a diorama of a herd of alert antelope (I believe Impala, maybe Grants Gazelles). The hair on the ridge of the antelope’s back is standing up and he is looking north across the gallery. On the north wall is the Cheetah diorama with the cat’s attention clearly drawn to the prey opposite the gallery. I had a blast visiting with my nephews in the 1990’s and having them work that dynamic out with barely a nudge on my part.

It’s a wonderful place.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

QUOTE="
Onychorhynchus coronatus what is your Favorite AMNH Diorama?

In terms of the underlying narrative of the diorama there are a lot of contenders but probably the one that fascinated me the most in terms of the tension was the dhole vs sambar diorama.

I think it is the inherent and riveting drama in the scene with the sambar stag making a desperate last stand against the dholes which just grabs the attention of the viewer and makes them feel empathy with the predicament of the deer.

When I saw it I remember thinking that this must be the kind of scene of the natural world that goes for the most part unseen by human eyes across South and South-East Asia given how cryptic the dhole is :

The other aspect about this diorama is it does highlight a lesser known predator and makes you admire the teamwork / cooperation of the pack in bringing down large prey (or at least it did for me).

I really like that the diorama is left on a cliff hanger and the viewer is left wondering whether the stag would somehow break through the dholes and live to survive another day (afterall it has already killed / mortally wounded one of the dogs that can be seen in the left hand corner) or whether the sambar will tire or slip up on its defence and be pulled down, disembowelled and eaten alive by the dholes which is probably the more likely outcome.

Photo credits to @ThylacineAlive , @carlos55 and @Sarus Crane.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Another interesting moment caught in time can be found on the second level of the Africa Hall, on the south wall is a diorama of a herd of alert antelope (I believe Impala, maybe Grants Gazelles). The hair on the ridge of the antelope’s back is standing up and he is looking north across the gallery. On the north wall is the Cheetah diorama with the cat’s attention clearly drawn to the prey opposite the gallery. I had a blast visiting with my nephews in the 1990’s and having them work that dynamic out with barely a nudge on my part.

It’s a wonderful place.

Thanks for sharing @Pleistohorse !

I can't remember that particular diorama but I do remember the cheetah.

Have to admit I didn't make this connection while at the museum but that is a pretty awesome detail and I'm sure that it would have been intentional on the part of the artists / taxidermists as they did apparently have quite a sense of humour.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

@Pleistohorse I think the diorama you are referring to might be in one of the pictures I posted in one of my comments above which has the wildebeest, springbok and blesbok.

The antelope looking directly at the viewer has the hair of the ridge of its back standing up as if in alarm / terror.

Is that the one you mean ?

 

[Jurek7]

@Pleistohorse
I used to have a very old issue of National Geographic magazine, with a poster of a huge mura l/ painting of prehistoric megafauna of Alaska from some museum in Alaska. It showed maybe 30 species and a couple of 100s of animals. There was a lot of cool scenes, which show prehistoric animals really well, like a scared mammoth running away from a scimitar cat, or a group of hungry-looking wolves watching cave lions at a kill.

I wonder if somebody can recognize the museum, the mural, who painted it and whether it still exists?

 

[Jurek7]

Apparently this diorama was created when life of wild gorillas was completely unknown. Mr Akeley(?) wanted to show gorillas in life, but had a problem figuring out what they might do.

 

[Jurek7]

I found it!

One of my favorite museum pieces: Pleistocene megafauna at University of Alaska Museum of the North painted by Jay Matternes (or should it go to the murals thread?).

February museum programs explore ice age Alaska

The photo above does not do it justice. It is incredible how lifelike are poses of extinct animals: a turning mammoth in the center in the far background, a scared mammoth cow to the right, interactions between the extinct muskoxen to the left, the dynamic between extinct cave lions and living wolves at the kill to the right etc.