When Olivia Miseroy began working for the Placerita Canyon Nature Center she noticed how old the animal models looked and thought to herself, “I can do better than that,” and decided to learn the art of taxidermy.   On Sunday, Miseroy gave a presentation on how taxidermy is important to scientific research and the complex process behind preserving an animal.  Miseroy currently works for the L.A. County Parks and Recreation Department as a wildlife educator and still takes taxidermy orders for museums and nature centers.   To her surprise, the room where her presentation was given was nearly full of people interested in learning what it took to preserve animals and ask Miseroy questions about her experiences.  “It’s good! I was surprised because I did a talk for the Valencia library last week and it was the same presentation, but this is a way bigger crowd,” said Miseroy.   The presentation discussed the ways taxidermy has evolved over time, how technology today such as 3-D printing has been a tremendous help to speeding along the process, the different taxidermist specialties, and included photos of Miseroy’s work. She even won Best in the World in reproduction of reptiles, amphibians and others at the 2024 World Taxidermy Championships for her models.  Replica heads, fur pelt, and wood wool are displayed on a table during a presentation about taxidermy at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center on Monday afternoon. Maya Morales/ The Signal Attendees watched her slide presentation attentively as she went through the step-by-step process it took to make the models. During the presentation Miseroy showed different pieces she had brought that were made such as the casting of a duck head and a cast model of a rattlesnake.   She said she mostly works in replica taxidermy today. With replica taxidermy, everything is fake. The example she gave during her presentation was a fish.   “Most fish now are just painted on,” said Miseroy. “It works great if you’re doing catch and release. You can take a picture of your fish and then throw it back into the water and take those pictures and give it to your taxidermist. Then you’ve got your fish to put on your wall and that fish could still be swimming around.”  Miseroy’s specialty is molded cast reptiles. She said to make her models she takes a deceased animal, poses it, freezes it, makes a silicone mold of it, and then pours resin into the molding to make a replica of the animal. The most time-consuming effort can be painting the model to make sure it duplicates the animal it is modeling after.   Beth McCabe admires Olivia Miseroy’s replica animals on display after a presentation about taxidermy at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center on Monday afternoon. Maya Morales/ The Signal She said she sees this as a more sustainable way because it only takes one animal to create one casting and from the casting she can make as many models as she needs without needing to use another deceased animal.   Miseroy said that there is a scientific reason why taxidermy is needed.   “Seeing the real thing helps people understand what that animal is and what it looks like,” said Miseroy.   Personally, Miseroy said that if you can’t see something then you will not understand how important it can be, like the saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Taxidermy allows animals to be preserved and studied by scientists and people. It allows museums to place them on display and educate people on why the animal is important to wildlife and in some cases, why they should be protected if they are endangered.   The post Local taxidermist speaks at Placerita Canyon Nature Center  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.