Hear Ur

In this episode of Nature Reconstructed, we are introduced to Osa Johnson and her husband Martin. The two were famous for their nature documentaries. Their first feature length film, Simba: King of the Beasts, was created through the assistance of both Carl Akeley and George Eastman. The film’s portrayal of animal life was one of the first instances where depictions of nature were made accessible to a large audience, as movie tickets were vastly more affordable than taxidermied animals. The premiere of Simba seems to mark the beginning of the end of the golden age of taxidermy, which causes us to beg the question: were the Johnsons and their films the catalyst for the dwindling popularity of taxidermy in American culture? Were they solely responsible for the end of an era where taxidermy was the only way Americans could engage with an increasingly disappearing natural world?