Cowboy actor Roy Rodgers' trusty sidekick, Trigger, was immortalized in his iconic rearing pose. Bought by a U.S. cable company for $266,500 in 2010, Trigger is one of many taxidermy horses on display across the world.
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(CNN) -- "Horsey!" scream the children staring in awe at the glossy chestnut thoroughbred towering above them.
Their tiny hands press against the glass encasing Australia's most beloved race horse -- Phar Lap.
But despite their excited squealing and impatient jostling, the impressive 1.74-meter tall gelding will never lower his glassy stare in their direction.
He'll never twitch his ears, flick his tail, or gallop down the race track with the remarkable speed which made him a national hero during the darkest days of the 1930s Depression.
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Phar Lap has been dead for 81 years.
His body however, looks barely a day over six-years-old, frozen in time thanks to taxidermy -- the art of stuffing animal skins for display.
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The champion thoroughbred is one of many legendary taxidermy horses exhibited in museums around the world -- forever ready to run their next race, charge onto the battle field, or star on the big screen.
"Taxidermy is a way to immortalize their story, as well as their actions and deeds," said Michael Reason, curator of the Phar Lap exhibition at Australia's Melbourne Museum.
"Museums are all about experiencing `the real thing,' so presenting a preserved specimen is a way of doing that."
Equine legends live on
From Napoleon's horse, Le Vizir, on display at the Army Museum in Paris, to actor Roy Rogers' trusty sidekick, Trigger, exhibited at a U.S. TV network, the intriguing world of equine taxidermy is far from, well, dead.
"What makes preserved famous creatures so different from hunting trophies or natural history specimens, is that most taxidermy is about preserving the animal's form -- you're not really trying to capture the spirit of the animal," said Rachel Poliquin, author of The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing.
"With famous creatures such as Phar Lap, you're preserving it because the animal has done something which is more than animal -- it has qualities such as courage, fortitude, endurance, which we like to think are in the human domain."
Enter Comanche
There is perhaps no horse which embodies those virtues quite like Comanche.
The gelding gained legendary status as the sole survivor on the U.S. Cavalry side of the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn -- fought between General Custer's troops and native American Indians.
Two days after the clash which killed hundreds of combatants, Comanche was discovered on the battlefield -- badly injured, but alive.
When he died from colic 15 years later he was buried with full military honors, while his skin was preserved.
Today, long after the soldiers who rode him have turned to dust, Comanche's taxidermy body remains standing to attention at Kansas University's Natural History Museum.
"Comanche stands for many more things than being the lone survivor on the Cavalry side -- he stands for the relentless march of the European settlers across the great plains and the war against the Indians," said Leonard Krishtalka, director of the Biodiversity Institute at Kansas University.
"Why do we taxidermy animals, or make wax models, or copy archaeological monuments, or hold historical re-enactments? I guess it's a way of understanding history better, of bringing it to life."
Strike a pose
But taxidermy, much like history, is never free from our own manipulation.
When cowboy actor Roy Rogers had his sidekick, Trigger, stuffed in 1965, it was in a pose befitting a screen star.
Rearing on his hind legs and wearing an elaborately studded saddle, the golden palomino who appeared alongside Rodgers in dozens of films, was auctioned for a whopping $266,500 to cable company RFD-TV in 2010.
It appears that in death, Trigger had become larger than life.
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"A taxidermy animal is just the skin of the animal, and of course the skin has no inherent shape or pose." Poliquin said. "And that's where the artistry and the human manipulation become involved."
"Are you going to pose the lion sleeping or attacking an antelope? All those decisions come in manufacturing the ultimate spectacle."
Art imitating life
While taxidermy attempts to recreate animals, it actually uses very little of their original parts.
Instead, the skin is usually stretched over an artificial skeleton and preserved with chemicals. Features such as glass eyes or synthetic tongues are also added.
"You have to have a solid knowledge of anatomy," said Krishtalka.
"One of the big problems with early taxidermy, was that the skin was susceptible to insect infestation.
"Virtually all the animals that have been stuffed before 1960 have great quantities of arsenic on them and still have to be handled with gloves."
Alluring animals
There is something both disconcerting and mesmerizing about coming face-to-face with animals who teeter in the realm between life and death.
In the case of our hero horses, there is also a deep emotional turmoil at play -- we hold these animals in such high esteem that we feel compelled to stuff them for display.
Perhaps Poliquin sums up the enduring allure of taxidermy best: "There's a psychological twist that you can never fully get to the bottom of."
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Head to Australia's Victoria Museum and you'll find an entire room dedicated to champion race horse Phar Lap -- including his skeleton and body.
The Australian horse, who died from suspected poisoning by U.S. mobsters in 1932, also has his enormous 6.2-kilogram heart on display. "It was fortunate to posterity that he did die in America, as he was worked on by the top taxidermy firm in the world at that time -- the Jonas Brothers of New York," said Michael Reason, curator of the Phar Lap exhibition.
Taxidermy -- the art of stuffing animal skins for display -- actually involves very little of the creature's original parts. Pictured here is the wood and wire frame and real skull used to exhibit famous U.S. cavalry horse Comanche.
The gelding gained legendary status as the sole survivor of the the U.S. Cavalry in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought between General Custer's troops and native American Indians.
Long after his fellow combatants have turned to dust, Comanche's taxidermy body stands to attention at Kansas University's Natural History Museum. The complex process of taxidermy involved wrapping the frame in jute to recreate his shape.
The frame was then covered in a water-based clay in preparation for the final fitting of skin. "Often, the only real parts were the skin. Which speaks volumes about our concept of representation of the individual -- at what point does the proportion of fake parts cross the credibility threshold?" said Leonard Krishtalka, director of the Biodiversity Institute at Kansas University.
The skin was then sewed on to the frame. "Even preserved skin gets old. So if you go to these 19th century exhibitions, you see all these cracked creatures who have broken ears and the stitching coming undone. I find quite a sadness to them," said author Rachel Poliquin.
Tens of thousands of people visited Comanche when he was first exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. "In one sense you could say it's ghoulish, but in another you could say it's part of the human cultural machine -- preserving the past gives people some sort of gratification of a connection through time," said Krishtalka.
More than 100 years after his death, Comanche was beginning to look a little worse for wear. In 2005 the historic horse was given a makeover -- including new eyelashes.
Dating back to the Victorian era, taxidermy was used by European explorers as a way of preserving exotic species from across the world.
"In keeping the memory alive, people go into the museum and read the story and become fascinated with it, and perhaps find a respect for a creature they wouldn't otherwise know about. On the other hand, you've made this heroic character into an object for display and there is an element of disrespect in that," said Poliquin.
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