Carl Akeley

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Carl Ethan Akeley (19 May 1864 - 17 November 1926) was a taxidermist, artist, biologist, conservationist, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the American Museum of Natural History.

The Lion-Hunters (detail) (Field Museum, Chicago)

He was born in Clarendon, New York and grew up on a farm, attending school for only three years. He learned taxidermy from David Bruce in Brockport, New York and then entered an apprenticeship in taxidermy in Rochester, New York. Akeley moved on to the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he created the world's first complete museum habitat diorama in 1890. While working at the MPM and a museum in Chicago he developed his innovative techniques of taxidermy, perfecting a "cement gun" for improving exhibits. He later applied this method to patch old buildings with concrete, and is today known as the inventor of shotcrete.^[1]

Akeley specialized in African mammals, particularly the gorilla and the elephant. As a taxidermist, he developed the technique of fitting the skin over a carefully prepared and sculpted form of the animal's body, producing very lifelike specimens. He also displayed the specimens in groups in a natural setting. Many animals that he preserved he had personally collected.

In 1909 Akeley accompanied Theodore Roosevelt on an expedition to Africa and began working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where his efforts can still be seen in the Akeley African Hall. One of the members of his 1921 expedition was six-year-old Alice Hastings Bradley, who later became the science fiction writer James Tiptree, Jr..

He improved the motion picture camera for working in nature. Akeley also wrote several books, including stories for children. He was awarded more than thirty patents for his inventions.

He instigated the establishment of a preserve for gorillas in Rwanda.

Akeley died of a fever in the Congo during his fifth expedition to Africa. He is buried in Africa. His wife, Mary Jobe Akeley, married him two years before he died. He had previously been married to Delia J. Akeley (1875 - 1970) for nearly twenty years. Delia Akeley accompanied him on two of his biggest and most productive safaris to Africa in 1905 and again in 1909. Delia later returned to Africa twice under the auspices of the Brooklyn Museum of Arts and Sciences. She organized and led both trips and lived for several months in the Ituri Forest with Pygmies. His name also graces an award for the best taxidermist in the world. It is given at the world taxidermy and fish carving championship show which is held every other year, the next show will be held in Reno, Nevada on april 17 - 21 2007.