Animal Inside Out will be the Canadian Museum of Nature’s newest offering for 2015. But it’s not only new for the museum. This is the first time the exhibit will be coming to Canada.
Previously shown in Germany, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S., Animal Inside Out offers an anatomy lesson like never before. Debuting in May, the exhibit displays the bodies of nearly 50 real, skinless animals – including a human.
Using a preservation and display technique invented by Germany-based BODY WORLDS anatomist Gunther von Hagens, Animal Inside Out gives a close up view of the animal’s blood vessels, muscles, skeleton and internal organs. The incredible view is made possible through a process called plastination which involves removing the fat and water from a specimen’s tissues and replacing them with plastic, according to the BODY WORLDS website.
“You get struck by the beauty of animals, and not just the outside, but the inside as well,” says John Swettenham, director of marketing and media relations at the McLeod Street museum. Swettenham says he saw the exhibit in Dallas in 2014.
Some specimens include a dog, an ostrich, an octopus and a giraffe. While it’s wildly intriguing to see a giraffe without its patterned patches of fur, it may be more extraordinary to see the last specimen of the exhibit: a human being.
The whole purpose of the exhibit is to inspire a deeper appreciation and respect for the animal world by showing visitors the similarities between humans and animals, says Georgina Gomez, director of development at BODY WORLDS.
Beginning in the late 1990s, BODY WORLDS ignited controversy with its ground-breaking exhibit of plastinated human specimens. The exhibits drew fire from some religious groups and others who objected to the display of human remains, but the shows proved to be very popular.
Asked about its reaction to the display of plastinated animals, the Ottawa Humane Society said it planned to contact museum officials to learn more about the origins of the animals that will be displayed.
“We’re going to correspond with the museum to see where the animals come from because the BODY WORLDS website says they died of natural causes and we don’t think that’s enough information,” says society spokeswoman Natalie Pona.
Gomez says most of the animals in Animal Inside Out were declared to have died of natural causes, according to the groups that donated them. Gomez says BODY WORLDS is not anticipating any criticism in Ottawa.