The Lion of Gripsholm Castle is a notable example of bad taxidermy located in Gripsholm Castle, Sweden. The Lion is badly stuffed and is considered to have a comically deformed face.[1]
In 1731, the dey of Algiers presented King Frederick I of Sweden with a lion, one of the first lions in Scandinavia.[2] When alive, the lion was kept in a cage near Junibacken. When the lion died, it was stuffed and mounted; however, the taxidermist and the museum-keepers had never actually seen a lion before, and did not know how they were supposed to look.[3] The taxidermist mostly based the reconstruction off of historic artwork of lions. As a result, the mount was especially anatomically inaccurate, most apparent in its face.
This seems weird, did the taxidermist not get the corpse but just the fur or something? Otherwise they would have seen what I lion looks like (although a dead one).
This seems weird, did the taxidermist not get the corpse but just the fur or something? Otherwise they would have seen what I lion looks like (although a dead one).