Everyday Dying

"The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate. It is for us to harmonize with this order" - Henry Miller ---------------------------------------- Last weekend I visited my family in Manchester, UK. While I was there I took the opportunity to visit the Manchester museum, where natural history is a big theme and there is a large collection of taxidermy exhibits. My personal favourites were the birds and forest wildlife. Below are some pictures I took of the exhibits: 1. Taxidermy squirrel This exhibit shows part of the process involved in creating a mammal taxidermy. It is clear that the skin removed from the cadaver is placed on a man-made structure shaped as a squirrel. Of course, due to natural decay the animal's real eyeballs are replaced with glass eyes. I had a chance to touch a finished taxidermy squirrel in the museum and it felt like a living, furry animal, except for the lack of a spine. 2. The big bad wolf This angry-looking ...

I was always fascinated by dead animals, especially birds and fish, as they usually cannot be handled easily and examined while alive. I have seen many dead birds throughout my life and took a few pictures to document the more interesting cases. Below are a few images of what I managed to find, near to where I live. Bird 1: Likely a lark This specimen was found still alive by my family near Manchester, UK. It was weak and unable to fly so they decided to take it to the vet, but it died on the way there. I believe it was a lark, most likely a skylark, or a meadow pipit, although skylark is more likely due to its size and shape. These birds can be found everywhere in UK, but mostly live in the countryside and farmland. They are not very easy to spot where this one was found, so it was interesting to see.  As seen on the picture, the bird has angular wings, which are long in proportion to the rest of its body, enabling them to fly and hover smoothly. If it was alive, it coul...