Taxidermy animals need names

Taxidermy animals need names: contest running at Las Vegas museum (ends June 27th 2021)

LAS VEGAS — What do you call a taxidermy bear? This is not a joke, but a real question being posed by the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. In July, the museum will display six taxidermy animals that the Friends of the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, purchased earlier this year, and they are asking the public to vote on names for the wildlife specimens.

Friends of Nevada State Museum Las Vegas raised money for the purchase of a taxidermy bear, ringtail cat, porcupine, American river otter, badger, and kit fox and developed a short list of names for each animal, based on public input. Only visitors to the museum can cast their ballot, available through June 27.

What are the front-runners on the short list? Jim Parish, Friends of Nevada State Museum president, may or may not have a few favorites, but he’s not saying.

“Do I have any favorite names? No,” Parish said. “And if I did, I couldn’t say it. That wouldn’t be fair.”

During the state’s 2020 shutdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Friends group ran a “Cover for COVID” fundraising campaign to support the museum, raising close to $10,000 and securing another $10,000 in grant funding. Parish says the money paid for a range of items, including such basic operational expenses as special light bulbs for exhibit galleries and expanding Wi-Fi throughout the building, as the museum’s budget was dramatically affected by the shutdown.

Parish said the Friends group, founded in 2016, next will be running a “Money for Mannequins” fundraising campaign to pay for archival mannequins to showcase the museum’s extensive textile collection. Those differ from retail mannequins in that the materials they are made of do not damage old and delicate fabrics when on exhibit, and they also can be adjusted to the shapes of the original wearer. The museum, which interprets the history and natural history of Nevada has a 13,000-square-foot permanent gallery that examines the geology, plants, and animals of Nevada, along with stories of Native Americans, pioneers, early settlers, and more.