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Crap Taxidermy
A humorous look at what happens when taxidermy goes terribly wrong, by the founder of the hit website crappytaxidermy.com.
A relaxed toad enjoying a smoke and a brew. A cat with eerily flexible front legs. A smiling lion with receding gums. Whether you choose to laugh or cringe at these spectacularly bad attempts at taxidermy, you won't be able to tear your eyes away from the curiosities inside. This volume brings together the very best of the worst (along with a DIY "Stuff Your Own Mouse" lesson by an Insect Preparator from the American Museum of Natural History), showcasing the most perverse yet imaginative anatomical reconstructions of the animal kingdom you'll ever see.
A relaxed toad enjoying a smoke and a brew. A cat with eerily flexible front legs. A smiling lion with receding gums. Whether you choose to laugh or cringe at these spectacularly bad attempts at taxidermy, you won't be able to tear your eyes away from the curiosities inside. This volume brings together the very best of the worst (along with a DIY "Stuff Your Own Mouse" lesson by an Insect Preparator from the American Museum of Natural History), showcasing the most perverse yet imaginative anatomical reconstructions of the animal kingdom you'll ever see.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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466 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
September 18, 2018
hey, baby!
i requested this late last night on netgalley, in great delight and "must read this! fever, and then completely forgot about it until i went on there today for a totally different reason. such a great "oh, yeah!" surprise when i got home.
this is another one of those books-of-blogs, and it is fantastic. creepy taxidermy fascinates me, and i never knew what a "thing" it was until i read jenny lawson's book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir, and started peeking at her blog. man, does that lady love creepy taxidermy. and so does this lady. this book is a collection of pictures of wonky and sad taxidermy she has been collecting for her blog http://crappytaxidermy.com/, which boasts that it is "the internet's largest image depository of crappy and awesome taxidermy." i can personally vouch for its scope: i only managed to get through 127 pages of it looking for pictures to grab for this review before i realized "shit, i have tons of other stuff to do tonight." it is incredibly comprehensive, but not all of the pictures are as disturbing as the ones in this book, which seems to be a best-of-the-worst collection.
here are some highlights:
who's your daddy??
but whyyyyyy, you cry
whyyyyy?
what can one do with a dead, stuffed animal?? isn't it just an impractical waste?? NO!
there are so many uses!
and you know you are looking at these and wanting them to be part of your life:
wheee!
what big eyes you have!
and this is one of my most favorites. such precision!!:
a few of these examples aren't in the book itself, but they are on the blog, and they are pretty damn creepy, so worth including.
horrifying
and here's a special bonus feature called "hi, greg!"
and here is a list of books on the topic that i either own already or really want to own already, that you can read while you are waiting for this book to come out in september:
Get Stuffed: 24 Projects for the Bereaved Pet Owner
Taxidermy
Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy
Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy
The Rogue's Guide to Taxidermy
these two are only tangentially related, but worth noting
Cabinets of Wonder
How To Fossilise Your Hamster: And Other Amazing Experiments For The Armchair Scientist
and this one, which i saw advertised at BEA, comes out in september:
Much Ado about Stuffing: The Best and Worst of @CrapTaxidermy
a wonderful collection, which i will be buying as soon as it comes out.
PLUS! at the end of this book, there is also a helpful section that teaches you how to do your own taxidermy on a mouse, including a SUPER helpful section called "when accidents happen."
get it.
i love you bye bye!
come to my blog!
i requested this late last night on netgalley, in great delight and "must read this! fever, and then completely forgot about it until i went on there today for a totally different reason. such a great "oh, yeah!" surprise when i got home.
this is another one of those books-of-blogs, and it is fantastic. creepy taxidermy fascinates me, and i never knew what a "thing" it was until i read jenny lawson's book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir, and started peeking at her blog. man, does that lady love creepy taxidermy. and so does this lady. this book is a collection of pictures of wonky and sad taxidermy she has been collecting for her blog http://crappytaxidermy.com/, which boasts that it is "the internet's largest image depository of crappy and awesome taxidermy." i can personally vouch for its scope: i only managed to get through 127 pages of it looking for pictures to grab for this review before i realized "shit, i have tons of other stuff to do tonight." it is incredibly comprehensive, but not all of the pictures are as disturbing as the ones in this book, which seems to be a best-of-the-worst collection.
here are some highlights:
who's your daddy??
but whyyyyyy, you cry
whyyyyy?
what can one do with a dead, stuffed animal?? isn't it just an impractical waste?? NO!
there are so many uses!
and you know you are looking at these and wanting them to be part of your life:
wheee!
what big eyes you have!
and this is one of my most favorites. such precision!!:
a few of these examples aren't in the book itself, but they are on the blog, and they are pretty damn creepy, so worth including.
horrifying
and here's a special bonus feature called "hi, greg!"
and here is a list of books on the topic that i either own already or really want to own already, that you can read while you are waiting for this book to come out in september:
Get Stuffed: 24 Projects for the Bereaved Pet Owner
Taxidermy
Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy
Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy
The Rogue's Guide to Taxidermy
these two are only tangentially related, but worth noting
Cabinets of Wonder
How To Fossilise Your Hamster: And Other Amazing Experiments For The Armchair Scientist
and this one, which i saw advertised at BEA, comes out in september:
Much Ado about Stuffing: The Best and Worst of @CrapTaxidermy
a wonderful collection, which i will be buying as soon as it comes out.
PLUS! at the end of this book, there is also a helpful section that teaches you how to do your own taxidermy on a mouse, including a SUPER helpful section called "when accidents happen."
get it.
i love you bye bye!
come to my blog!
September 26, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mitchell was so excited he had to put on a party hat.
(Could my head look any bigger? Christ on a cracker!)
How should I begin this review???????
Should I tell you how many blog-to-books I’ve read in the past year? (Answer: Infinity)
Should I tell you that I am one of the rabid followers of all things relating to The Bloggess and on one fateful day while perusing my local thrift shop my life was changed forever?
I should tell you all of those things, but first . . . . let me take a selfie:
If you haven’t met him yet, that’s Mitchell. My version of Jenny Lawson’s James Garfield. I found him in a thrift store last Fall, along with his hefty price tag of $459. Knowing that I could not excuse dropping so many Benjamins on a rotted boar’s head and remain married, I chose Option B – I went and visited him a few times a month just to check in, catch up, make sure he was being treated okay, etc. Amazingly, come Christmastime the shop owners were more than happy to haggle on the price (a LOT) in order tostop my creepy visits adopt Mitchell out to a loving home. Win!
I brought Mitchell home and we became instant BFFs. We continued our chats and got to know each other on a deeper level. Friends and family found our relationship to be a bit strange, but it was only because they couldn’t appreciate what it was like for me to FINALLY have a fellow book lover in the house. Of course, Mitchell’s idea of a “comedy” isn’t quite the same as mine . . .
There was a downside to our new relationship, though. Since I work a full-time job, Mitchell found himself lonely just hanging around all day. It was high time he had a friend. My husband had his eye on an alligator head at a local antique store, but sadly it had already been sold. However, the powers of the interwebs are remarkable and I soon found not just a head, but an entire alligator for a bargain price (due to bad stitchery, stuffing leakage, and a missing (but completely unnecessary) hand). Frank Engator entered our life and I found myself getting high off the big score . . .
Along the way we’ve adopted more friends into our little menagerie. Adorable pals like Pauly Shore:
and the loveable drunk, David Hasselmouse:
This book confirmed my belief that there is nothing in the world quite like taxidermy. I might be a candidate for an appearance on “My Strange Addiction”, but it’s cheaper than heroin and releases tons of good endorphins. Be it bad, good, or bizarre, taxidermied critters are definitely a conversation starter when people step in to your house for the first time and realize your simple reading room is truly a “Where’s Waldo” of dead things.
It takes a special breed of weirdo to appreciate the art behind taxidermy, but I have faith that many of you are weirdos just like me and will rush to the book store come September in order to have this teensie little masterpiece featured as a coffee-table-book-of-choice. Until then, happy hunting. Personally, I currently have my sights on a deer’s butt in order to make my very own “Assquatch” : )
Copy provided by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mitchell was so excited he had to put on a party hat.
(Could my head look any bigger? Christ on a cracker!)
How should I begin this review???????
Should I tell you how many blog-to-books I’ve read in the past year? (Answer: Infinity)
Should I tell you that I am one of the rabid followers of all things relating to The Bloggess and on one fateful day while perusing my local thrift shop my life was changed forever?
I should tell you all of those things, but first . . . . let me take a selfie:
If you haven’t met him yet, that’s Mitchell. My version of Jenny Lawson’s James Garfield. I found him in a thrift store last Fall, along with his hefty price tag of $459. Knowing that I could not excuse dropping so many Benjamins on a rotted boar’s head and remain married, I chose Option B – I went and visited him a few times a month just to check in, catch up, make sure he was being treated okay, etc. Amazingly, come Christmastime the shop owners were more than happy to haggle on the price (a LOT) in order to
I brought Mitchell home and we became instant BFFs. We continued our chats and got to know each other on a deeper level. Friends and family found our relationship to be a bit strange, but it was only because they couldn’t appreciate what it was like for me to FINALLY have a fellow book lover in the house. Of course, Mitchell’s idea of a “comedy” isn’t quite the same as mine . . .
There was a downside to our new relationship, though. Since I work a full-time job, Mitchell found himself lonely just hanging around all day. It was high time he had a friend. My husband had his eye on an alligator head at a local antique store, but sadly it had already been sold. However, the powers of the interwebs are remarkable and I soon found not just a head, but an entire alligator for a bargain price (due to bad stitchery, stuffing leakage, and a missing (but completely unnecessary) hand). Frank Engator entered our life and I found myself getting high off the big score . . .
Along the way we’ve adopted more friends into our little menagerie. Adorable pals like Pauly Shore:
and the loveable drunk, David Hasselmouse:
This book confirmed my belief that there is nothing in the world quite like taxidermy. I might be a candidate for an appearance on “My Strange Addiction”, but it’s cheaper than heroin and releases tons of good endorphins. Be it bad, good, or bizarre, taxidermied critters are definitely a conversation starter when people step in to your house for the first time and realize your simple reading room is truly a “Where’s Waldo” of dead things.
It takes a special breed of weirdo to appreciate the art behind taxidermy, but I have faith that many of you are weirdos just like me and will rush to the book store come September in order to have this teensie little masterpiece featured as a coffee-table-book-of-choice. Until then, happy hunting. Personally, I currently have my sights on a deer’s butt in order to make my very own “Assquatch” : )
Copy provided by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
November 16, 2014
Although the blog has, from time to time, left me unable to speak from laughing, put all those bad taxidermic animals together in one place to read in a sit-down session and all I felt was sorrow. It suddenly seemed like some terrible lack in our species that we do this to other animals.
Seeing them on the flat matt page, instead of glossy pixels on a screen accompanied by witty comments, a wave of self-hatred surged over me :(
Seeing them on the flat matt page, instead of glossy pixels on a screen accompanied by witty comments, a wave of self-hatred surged over me :(
October 23, 2017
This book is everything that is promised. It's taxidermy, and it's crap. It's short, it's visual, it's the perfect thing to thrust at a guest and watch them laugh and laugh before they even crack it open.
Thank you, internet, for letting me know this exists. Thank you, King County Library System for actually owning it and allowing me to borrow it.
Thank you, internet, for letting me know this exists. Thank you, King County Library System for actually owning it and allowing me to borrow it.
December 30, 2017
Five full stars for the amount of laughs the book has already provided. I imagine many more as it's revisited in the future.
July 15, 2015
5 Words: Funny, disturbing, instructive, hilarious, dead.
Just a quickie, this is a pretty funny little book.
Mostly pictures, all of them hilarious, it's the kind of book you'd open up and show everyone so you could have a good laugh. I certainly giggle-snorted my way through it.
The chapter explaining how to taxidermy your own mouse was particularly fascinating, but I don't think I'll be giving it a go myself!
Fun for the fifteen minutes it takes to read it.
I received a copy of this for free via NetGalley for review purposes.
Just a quickie, this is a pretty funny little book.
Mostly pictures, all of them hilarious, it's the kind of book you'd open up and show everyone so you could have a good laugh. I certainly giggle-snorted my way through it.
The chapter explaining how to taxidermy your own mouse was particularly fascinating, but I don't think I'll be giving it a go myself!
Fun for the fifteen minutes it takes to read it.
I received a copy of this for free via NetGalley for review purposes.
May 21, 2024
LOL through the whole book
May 31, 2020
Probably not everyone's cuppa but those who liked Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong, Awkward Family Photos etc most likely will like this book too.
I don't know if some of those examples are only taxidermists’ faults as some of them might be result of neglect. It looks like some examples of crapy taxidermy provided in this book are in museums. :/
1. It's In The Eyes
2. Dynamic Poses
3. Grin & Bear It
4. Improving On Nature
5. Strange Anatomy
6. Anthropomorphic
7. Get Stuffed: How To Stuff Your Own Mouse
NetGalley's book
I don't know if some of those examples are only taxidermists’ faults as some of them might be result of neglect. It looks like some examples of crapy taxidermy provided in this book are in museums. :/
1. It's In The Eyes
2. Dynamic Poses
3. Grin & Bear It
4. Improving On Nature
5. Strange Anatomy
6. Anthropomorphic
7. Get Stuffed: How To Stuff Your Own Mouse
NetGalley's book
July 4, 2014
4 stars ?!??!?! How can that be ? Well, It was gross and laugh out slobbering loud funny. I had to get it the title sold the book. The pictures say so much, they tell of people who should not be allowed to taxidermy anything ever again. Perhaps they had vision issues ? It was fun I went through the book laughing and showing some of the shots to my friends who laughed along with me. A great and disturbing coffee table book. It will get your guests talking.
July 10, 2014
Received via NetGalley and Ten Speed Press in exchange for an completely unbiased review.
Crap Taxidermy makes the promise of an entertaining and comedic read concerning distasteful and terribly positioned taxidermist “art”. The author starts off by explaining that taxidermy can come in two speeds: well done, and crap – you can guess which the book focuses on. Regardless of the author’s note that the book does not mean to be disrespectful, but rather shine a humorous light on the strange and unique works. The author includes quite a few photos: all of which are high-definition and full color.
Although I may have giggled a few times, the book overall only ensured my dislike of taxidermy practices. The author includes a segment at the very end to aid the reader in developing their own taxidermist skills. I wish I hadn’t read that segment, or really picked up this book. I’ve always thought that becoming worm food is the worst thing that could happen to my body after I die – but I’ve discovered that if I were to fall into a taxidermist’s hands the fate would be much worse.
I’ll admit that this subject is not meant for the faint of heart, and my own sense of humour is rather far from the base that the author is developing on. If you have a morbid sense of humour, or are not a “bleeding heart”, this will probably fascinate you as a quick read. It’s also highly educational on what taxidermy is, what skills are required for the profession and a crude description of “home taxidermy” with general household tools. If you have the stomach, it’s worth the read: but if you’ve got issues with death and corpse mutilation this may not be for you.
Crap Taxidermy makes the promise of an entertaining and comedic read concerning distasteful and terribly positioned taxidermist “art”. The author starts off by explaining that taxidermy can come in two speeds: well done, and crap – you can guess which the book focuses on. Regardless of the author’s note that the book does not mean to be disrespectful, but rather shine a humorous light on the strange and unique works. The author includes quite a few photos: all of which are high-definition and full color.
Although I may have giggled a few times, the book overall only ensured my dislike of taxidermy practices. The author includes a segment at the very end to aid the reader in developing their own taxidermist skills. I wish I hadn’t read that segment, or really picked up this book. I’ve always thought that becoming worm food is the worst thing that could happen to my body after I die – but I’ve discovered that if I were to fall into a taxidermist’s hands the fate would be much worse.
I’ll admit that this subject is not meant for the faint of heart, and my own sense of humour is rather far from the base that the author is developing on. If you have a morbid sense of humour, or are not a “bleeding heart”, this will probably fascinate you as a quick read. It’s also highly educational on what taxidermy is, what skills are required for the profession and a crude description of “home taxidermy” with general household tools. If you have the stomach, it’s worth the read: but if you’ve got issues with death and corpse mutilation this may not be for you.
July 8, 2014
I was awarded this truly funny, funny, book from NetGalley.
Hilarious!! I laughed page after page, then made my husband read it & we laughed together.
This is filled with photo after photo of some very strange taxidermy, what a collection!
Kat, I think your mom should be proud, even if it is not quite the book she thought you would publish!
Hilarious!! I laughed page after page, then made my husband read it & we laughed together.
This is filled with photo after photo of some very strange taxidermy, what a collection!
Kat, I think your mom should be proud, even if it is not quite the book she thought you would publish!
December 31, 2018
This is most amazing book ever! People are so horribly untalented! It’s like they don’t even know they’re making ugly anatomically incorrect things. You can’t even tell what some of the animals are!!!
February 6, 2024
A hardback edition lives on my coffee table; it does a splendid job of disturbing the guests. My favourite pieces are “Victims of the Egg Industry” and “Curious Wolpertinger”.
Truly remarkable — it even has highly informative instructions at the end of the book. I tried this out when the family rooster passed away with highly successful results.
Truly remarkable — it even has highly informative instructions at the end of the book. I tried this out when the family rooster passed away with highly successful results.
June 20, 2025
Best impulse buy. 10/10, no notes
October 20, 2024
5/5
Funny, revolting, informative😅
Funny, revolting, informative😅
July 16, 2014
Meh, nothing new here. I expected more than I had already seen on the Interwebs. Upside: I didn't know how to stuff a mouse. Now, I do!
December 11, 2014
Weird and wonderful and the sort of thing to occupy a few minutes or start a conversation during a quiet moment. Curious and terrifying.
December 15, 2024
Strange and rare creatures salvaged to put it crudely in an artistic rendition of both chimera and rare extinct animals that have walked the earth
January 16, 2025
crap taxidermy (hardcover)
August 24, 2024
I look forward to stuffing my own rat.
April 8, 2022
This is a funny coffee table book of taxidermy done wrong (or done in a funny way). It really makes you realize how much of taxidermy is sculpture (sculpting the inner structure that the skin/fur goes over.) When the inner structure is done incorrectly you really notice.
It's interesting that humans have this hobby of creating something that looks alive but is actually dead. We want to suspend our disbelief. But if the taxidermy ends up looking like a balloon or a cylinder, or its eyes are bulging, we can't suspend our disbelief. Then it’s just kind of funny and absurd and we want to stare at it for different reasons.
It's interesting that humans have this hobby of creating something that looks alive but is actually dead. We want to suspend our disbelief. But if the taxidermy ends up looking like a balloon or a cylinder, or its eyes are bulging, we can't suspend our disbelief. Then it’s just kind of funny and absurd and we want to stare at it for different reasons.
January 27, 2019
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of Crap Taxidermy from NetGalley. The review below is entirely of my own opinion. This is an abbreviated version of the review that appears on my blog, Mediatron.
Kat Su's Twitter Crap Taxidermy is an often hilarious, sometimes creepy, and always weird glimpse into the world of stuffing dead animals. I was very excited to get an ARC of the book, but when I opened it I was disappointed - where was the dry, rib-cracking commentary that makes the photos entertaining in the first place? It's like trying to read F U Penguin without the snarky insults - just pictures with little to no meaning nor intrigue.
Kat Su's Twitter Crap Taxidermy is an often hilarious, sometimes creepy, and always weird glimpse into the world of stuffing dead animals. I was very excited to get an ARC of the book, but when I opened it I was disappointed - where was the dry, rib-cracking commentary that makes the photos entertaining in the first place? It's like trying to read F U Penguin without the snarky insults - just pictures with little to no meaning nor intrigue.
May 29, 2020
Can't stop laughing with this one. Will change the way you see the world
March 18, 2018
Entertaining
The pictures that fill most of the book often made me laugh.
There’s a section with step by step instructions on performing taxidermy on a mouse. It would have been much better if the author had included a picture of her own project.
Overall it was an entertaining book and now I want to go buy a few feeder mice and some borax to try out the instructions at the end.
The pictures that fill most of the book often made me laugh.
There’s a section with step by step instructions on performing taxidermy on a mouse. It would have been much better if the author had included a picture of her own project.
Overall it was an entertaining book and now I want to go buy a few feeder mice and some borax to try out the instructions at the end.
July 6, 2014
ARC for review.
C'mon, guys. You had me at the title and the cover photo.
Well, as advertised, both crap and taxidermy. The rodent/Human centipede may have scarred me for life. Includes a very helpful how-to section so you can do it yourself! Please, please, please let someone do that and film the attempt.
C'mon, guys. You had me at the title and the cover photo.
Well, as advertised, both crap and taxidermy. The rodent/Human centipede may have scarred me for life. Includes a very helpful how-to section so you can do it yourself! Please, please, please let someone do that and film the attempt.
March 20, 2015
Not only does Kat Su provide an interesting and humorous -- or depressing, depending on your view of the world -- array of crazy taxidermy, but she also includes step-by-step instructions for stuffing a mouse on your own. Not something I'd want to do, but a nice addition for a book on taxidermy!
Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley.
Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley.
December 9, 2015
I cannot remember where I read a glowing review of this book - maybe "Mad" magazine. Expected humorous and/or creative products of taxidermy. Instead, most of the examples in the book were images snapped of old, badly taxidermed critters found in foreign countries. Most looked like road kill with googly eyes glued to their heads.
August 6, 2016
This is an excellent gift for all your wacky friends, although, maybe not if they're really into Winnie the Pooh. It also includes a helpful DIY section. I haven't tried it yet, but the next time I encounter something dead....
August 3, 2014
Makes me want to do my own taxidermy -- luckily, there's a tutorial in the back!
Some of the pictures in this book are hilarious, some made me want to cry (the baby penguin???). It's like some of these people had no idea how a real animal was supposed to look. Entertaining to say the least.
Some of the pictures in this book are hilarious, some made me want to cry (the baby penguin???). It's like some of these people had no idea how a real animal was supposed to look. Entertaining to say the least.
May 10, 2019
I wish it would have had more info on the individuals who created the taxidermy pieces, but other than that, it was an enjoyable book. And hilarious.
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