Until I met Grandpa Frank, I never thought much about animal hides or stuffed specimens. My only references were fur coats and dusty dioramas in museums. Frank has an eye for beauty, rustic and otherwise. Over a lifetime Frank has preserved many natural specimens. Lucky for us we get to share his bounty, and touch animals that we would never get near in the wild.
How often do you get close to a skunk? Well, probably never right? Frank has a whole collection of skunk skins (apparently his sweetheart Grandma Jan has a pension for them). Most of these skunks were road kill that no one else wanted to collect, and I can understand why. Skinning a skunk is stinky business. Frank knows where the glands are and how to remove them, but regardless – it’s a labor of love. And my do I love them. Have you ever looked closely at skunk fur? It’s fabulous, all the hairs are different lengths and the texture is much softer than I expected. Not to mention that each animal has a distinct double stripe down the back. I mean if I rationalize it, of course no two stripe sets are the same. But honestly, in my perceived mind all skunks were alike.
I think looking at and admiring animal skins causes us to shed preconceptions and really learn how animals work. Take this Coyote for instance. Look at that lovely coat so rich in camouflage color. I don’t think we could spot this guy in grass or woodland very easily. In our domestic life the closest species we interact with is the dog, but most dogs have had color variation bred out of their coats. Look at the skin around were the tummy would have been (lower left of photo). It barely has any fur. Now if I looked at my own dog’s tummy I could have deduced this, but again only seeing coyotes from afar I always assumed they were clad in fur everywhere.
Playing with skins and “stuffed” animals helps us understand the animal. It gives us a chance to act out our own fears, and learn to respect the animal at the same time. One of the things Seth loves at Grandpa Frank’s is some good bear play. He likes it when an adult wears the bear skin and pretends to be the bear. I think it helps him understand the enormity of the animal. It allows him to interact with “a bear” in a less abstract way than just seeing a photo of a bear, or viewing bears on TV. Grandpa Frank and Grandma Jan are living bear experts. Bear skin lessons with Frank and Jan are always factual learning opportunities, filled with all the know-how that a primal boy should assimilate about bears.
We are still working on the skinning series. Preparing an animal hide takes elapsed time. So stay tuned for the next installment of skinning with Grandpa Frank in a few weeks.
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