Where Research Will Take Ya Sometimes

Posted on November 17th, 2007 by Carlos

So today, as I was diligently at work on a new short story, I suddenly discovered I needed to know some small details about how taxidermy works. Off to the Interwebs I went! And, as usual, I found not only what I was looking for, but way more coolness and sadness than I bargained for.

Coolness came in two distinct forms. Coolness #1 was the web page of Sarina Brewer, who advertises her vocation on a web site called Custom Creature Taxidermy Arts. On it, you’ll find “artistic” taxidermy that readily exceeds the boring, typical trompe l’oeil mountings that dominate the industry. For instance, by following the “fantastic works” or “gaffs” link, you’ll encounter, among other amazing extra-reality specimens, this little fella: a genu-ine capricorn:

Cute, ain’t he? I especially like the wings — this is a capricorn that has mastered land, sea and air.

Coolness #2: Speaking of wings (though I’m not quite sure how a search on “taxidermy” led me here), I landed at one point on a site that attempted to separate fact from fiction around the issue of cats with wings. That’s right. Cats with wings.

There are, according to the site, three main explanations for the cats with wings phenomenon. The first is mundane: matted fur. Brush your cat and its wings go away. The second is much more interesting: sometimes vestigial elements of undeveloped twins remain on the body of the cat. If there are some remnants of a couple of cat legs on a kitty’s back from a twin that never developed, they could easily be mistaken for vestigial wings. The only drawback of that explanation is that they’d still be vestigial-looking. That is, they wouldn’t actually look like wings, as do the wings of the cat in the picture above.

Which leads to explanation #3, the best one of all: Cutaneous Asthenia, or “weak skin.” In humans, it’s called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and has, according to the site in question, created many a freak-show career, probably including those of “Arthur Loose the ‘Rubber Skinned Man’ whose cheeks and jowls hung in pendulous folds 8 inches (20 cm) long,” and “James Morris the original ‘India Rubber Man’ who could pull his elastic skin 18 inches (44 cm) from his body.”

Basically, here’s how it works:

The skin is elastic and forms pendulous flaps which may be shed without apparent damage to the cat. These flaps are covered with fur in the normal manner. The skin is easily torn (often with little or no bleeding) at the slightest contact with anything sharp - rough surfaces or even the cat’s own claws when scratching or grooming itself. Lacerations can be caused by an injection needle. Tears usually heal rapidly and the skin and may be criss-crossed with scars. In more severe forms, the tears may enlarge and form large wounds. An interesting aspect of this condition is that the flaps of stretched skin may peel or slough off very easily, often without bleeding. This explains some of the cases where wings were suddenly “moulted”. Some forms of the condition also affect the blood vessels in the skin, resulting in bruising and large blood blisters. In dogs, a similar condition appears to be linked to looseness in the joints and to abnormalities of the eye (slipped lens or cataracts).

In mammals, the skin comprises two principal layers. The surface (outermost) layer is the epidermis and is relatively thin. Below the epidermis is the dermis which is thicker and contains connective tissue. The dermis provides support and packing as well as containing nerves and blood vessels. The dermis consists largely of fibres made mostly of a protein called collagen. Collagen binds the cells of the dermis together. Mammals with Cutaneous Asthenia have defective collagen in certain areas of the skin, this makes it incapable of functioning effectively as tissue packing. As a result, the is extremely flexible and fragile in the affected areas. Most usually affected areas are the shoulders, back and haunches and the stretching gives the appearance of wings sprouting from these areas. Where the defect occurs in regions containing sufficient musculature so that muscle is included in the flaps of skin, the wings can even be moved slightly. Where the wings don’t contain any muscle, they folds simply bounce up and down as the animal runs, giving the impression of flapping.

A while ago I read a novella about a flying cat that I had at the time taken as pure fantasy; now I see that the author, who had stated in the introduction that his grandfather was reported to have a flying cat, was probably reporting a statement of fact, rather than pulling his readers’ legs, as I thought he was at the time.

Finally, the sadness. This site would be funny, if it wasn’t so couched in real human (and animal!) woe: http://www.petpreservations.com/ . People go here to get their dead pets mounted and “immortalized.” My first instinct upon stumbling across this site was to be a sarcastic dick and make fun of it. But the more I studied the site, the soberer I became. Apparently, people often choose to have their pets mounted to make them look like they’re asleep — similar to the ways undertakers make cadavers looks for the wake. And then I read a few of the narratives. In plain, often grammatically incorrect ways, they describe how much they love their pets, and how having them “back” in mounted form eases their suffering a little. I dare you to read the story of Gunny’s murder and try to believe that mounting pets is just a big joke. If you can do that, it’s time for you to go the emergency room and have them try to defib your heart. It must’ve died a long time ago.