Event NameCanterbury Museum Collection of Fauna 1972-1973Abstract
The main purpose of this event was to collect birds and seals for display in the Canterbury Museums proposed 8000sqft 'Hundreth Annversary' wing. Approximately half of this building will feature a selection of Antarctic relics from the 'heroic' era and aspects of Antarctic geology, meteorology, ocean ography and biology. As part of this event a comprehensive photographic record was assembled of the live fauna and the Antarctic environment in which it is found. The museum now has sufficient animal specimens of some Antarctic species to initiate a display programme which was origionally envisaged. This includes a series of dioramas portraying the activities of animals in their natrueal habitat. Data recorded from live animals in the field will enable the taxidermist to accurately reproduce certain of the esternal feature, for example the eyes, whose colour and dimension are susceptible to change with long preservation in cold storage.
