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Taxidermy on South Georgia By
Pauline Carr Taxidermist Steve Massam visited South Georgia with the assistance of the Shackleton Scholarship Fund. The South Georgia Museum has benefited hugely in upgrading its natural history room (named the Pete Prince Room after the British Antarctic Survey ornithologist) and Steve has offered many excellent ideas for souvenirs for the museum's gift shop which now funds almost all of the museum's running costs. Several cruise ship passengers and staff who were able to see Steve at work, and to admire his growing collection of birds and fish, expressed an interest in assisting him to do further specimens for the South Georgia Museum. The world famous seabird expert and author, Peter Harrison, was so impressed by Steve's work that he said he had produced the best specimens he had ever seen and referred to Steve as a genius. Probably the most spectacular item is a 1.65 metre toothfish which weighed in at about 80 kilos. This is the largest fish specimen that Steve has ever prepared but he is extremely pleased with the result and the very fine detail that has all been picked up in the mold. Because of the inevitable damage, when such heavy toothfish are landed onto fishing boats, Steve had to make over 40 "invisible" repairs to the fins. Now the fish is every bit as magnificent as it ever was. It makes a fascinating exhibit to explain to museum visitors the importance of the toothfish industry to South Georgia and how the licenses pay for the funding of fisheries research, fisheries patrols and other important environmental programmes. Some 50 kilos of excellent guilt-free toothfish were eaten by all the locals who included the British Antarctic Survey, the men from the AWG whaling station remediation project, and the crew of the Chilean tug Luma who have been refloating the three old sealing vessels and pumping furnace oil from their bunkers. Another unique specimen is a grey-headed albatross which died on Bird Island (South Georgia) early this season. It had first been ringed by Lance Tickell in 1959, making it at least 45 years old. We had imagined it had died of old age but in fact it was the victim of a very heavy crash-landing. All one side of its rib cage was broken; it also suffered a cracked breastbone and dislocated shoulder. Because this bird has been returning to Bird Island every other season to breed, its entire history is known, how many partners, eggs, chicks raised to fledging, etc. Unfortunately throughout its lifetime only one of its chicks returned to Bird Island to breed, showing how fine the balance is for these magnificent birds' survival. Steve has also produced several other smaller fish which will give visitors a chance to see some quite strange-looking species such as several of the ice-fish. Other bird specimens include those small ones that are normally not seen close-up, which will give people a chance to appreciate subtle difference between, for example, an Antarctic prion and a blue petrel. A king penguin skeleton is still being prepared, which we hope Steve will complete next year. A visitor to South Georgia cannot easily miss out on seeing penguins, with an estimate of over 6 million birds here. But it is really interesting to see beyond the feathers and fat bodies to note how fragile the skeleton of these apparently robust birds really is, and how the flippers lock into place for swimming, saving the bird from using up unnecessary energy. Steve even plans to cure the skin so that visitors can handle it and see how the feather growth develops. Lastly Steve's expertise has been of great value to most of the people living at King Edward Point where he has conducted evening classes on craft work, using natural materials from the island and opening up a whole new range of brilliant ideas for mid-winter presents and other gifts. Apart from Steve's valuable contribution to the museum, everyone has really enjoyed his visit, and his cheery companionship, and we are all very sad to see him leave. Tim and Pauline Carr are the curators of South Georgia Museum First published in the Penguin News, 19 March 2004, and reproduced with the kind permission of the Editor
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