Otago Museum curator of natural sciences Emma Burns is giving a talk at Otago Museum today about the process of preservation and taxidermy, as part of the Wild Dunedin Festival, which runs from today to Sunday next week.
Mrs Burns has been perfecting the art of preservation for over a decade, but she spends most of her time curating rather than stuffing the animals.
"Preservation goes back to ancient Egypt.
"Today we try to avoid the use of harmful chemicals as they can inhibit DNA preservation," she said.
She said she hopes the audience gets a sense of the scale of the work hidden behind the scenes. Her event entitled "Life After Death: What Happens During Decay", which is being held at the museum at 2.30pm, is one of about 100 in a week-long programme designed to showcase Dunedin’s distinctive environment and wildlife.
Wild Dunedin festival director Jeannie Hayden said the "whenua" focus of this year’s programme would give participants a chance to look more closely into soil and its importance to us and the world.
"The food we grow relies on the health of soil.
"To illustrate that, we have included a lot of gardening events that explain soil health and its benefits," she said.
One such event was "Talking Dirty", a panel discussion of soil-related talks in the Otago Museum running this Sunday 10am-5pm.
Wild Dunedin also included Earth Day in the programme — an international event designed to spread environmental awareness.
"It’ll be a wonderful day of making one giant collage of Autumn leaves and artwork," Mrs Hayden said.
The Earth Day event would be held at Chingford Park on April 22, where people of all ages can collaborate on an environmental artwork.
Mrs Hayden said the festival was aimed at the next generation.
"We wanted to include family-oriented events as we want to guide the next generation and give them our knowledge."
