Freeze drying for taxidermy is a relatively new practice compared with freeze drying for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and food industries. It is more common in the USA for preserving game and deceased pets, but there are some freeze drying taxidermy practitioners in New Zealand.

Taxidermy Freeze Drying Process

Freeze drying uses a process called lyophilization to gently freeze the specimen, and extract the water in the form of vapour using a high-pressure vacuum. The vapour collects on a condenser, turns back into ice and is removed. A gradual temperature rise extracts all remaining 'bound' moisture from the specimen.

Advantages of Freeze Dry Taxidermy

With freeze drying, whole specimens can be preserved permanently without damaging their basic structure, so there is far less chance of shrinkage or tissue distortion, and colour, size and features can be retained for an extremely life-like result.

Conventional taxidermy methods involve removing the skin, preserving it with chemicals and replacing it on an artificial body, then posing the specimen. Skin can also shrink and there will be stitches, all of which can tend to make it look artificial. With freeze drying, the specimen is frozen whole after posing making it appear more natural and realistic.
Some specimens are more suitable for freeze drying taxidermy than others, particularly small mammals, birds and fish.