AIC's 46th Annual Meeting

As mounted taxidermy specimens in natural history collections age, original components like fingers, toes, and hair, as well as areas sculpted by the taxidermist, may become damaged, aged, or lost. The deterioration often causes the specimen to be pushed to the back of the shelf, making it unfit for display or for educational activities. Such was the case for a mounted guenon monkey held in the Education Department at the American Museum of Natural History. The mounted guenon, a DeBrazza’s Monkey, had lost almost all of its characteristic white mustache and beard, several fingers had broken off, and the skin on its foot and ankle had torn in two locations. 

In order to conserve and restore the guenon monkey for the Education Department, tears in the skin were mended, lost facial hair was replaced, and the missing fingers were remade. This poster will describe three effective methods of restoration used to revitalize this mounted guenon monkey: flocking hair, casting pigmented wax fills for finger replacement, and techniques for mending torn skin with different adhesives.