Getting under the skin of an elephant

Tiffany O?Callaghan, CultureLab editor

(All images: Caroline Morley)

The first glimpse you get of the engrossing Animal Inside Out exhibit is in the grand atrium at the Natural History Museum in London. Just under the curving, whip-like tale of the giant Diplodocus skeleton, a camel stands with its muscles exposed, the tangle of its intestines visible through its opened abdomen. Most fascinating, though, is that the creature seems at once to be looking up, straight ahead and bending down: its head and neck have been sliced into three sections, revealing the muscle and bone within. Its humps are still furry, and fur still clings to the top of its hooves. You can imagine it bending down to eat dry grass or plucking some green leaves from a branch.

Enabling us to see familiar creatures in an unfamiliar light has been Gunther von Hagens?s specialty since he first developed the plastination preservation technique in 1975. To preserve biological structures, von Hagens first embalms the animal with formaldehyde and dissects it, removing body fat and water in an acetone bath. The plastination happens when the specimen is immersed in a liquid plastic such as silicone within a vacuum chamber. When suction is applied the plastic reaches into each nook and cranny, and the specimen can be positioned before the plastic is cured.

In large part von Hagens?s Body Worlds shows have been dedicated to humans. Animal Inside Out is committed exclusively to other members of the animal kingdom.The main exhibit begins in the world of underwater creatures.

A glistening cuttlefish is on display under glass, its two long tentacles stretched out. Along the wall, a panel offers a thinly sliced view of the insides of a needlefish. At the end of the first room, there is the imposing presence of a giant red shark - its full arterial network pumped full of red resin. Lying on a platform beneath is what resembles a large red mop head: the big fish?s liver, as it turns out, which is its largest organ and in the absence of a swim bladder, controls buoyancy.

What appears to be two large squid stretch out in a large glass display case, their tentacles mingling as their heads point away. It?s only when you round the corner to the other side of the glass that you realise this may be just one squid, sliced in half to give you a window inside. It's all very Damien Hirst.

Comparative anatomy is a central theme to the exhibition. Walking further on, there are fish, rabbit and frog skeletons displayed next to one another. A plastinated sheep alongside a plastinated goat. In a later room, hearts of a pig, reindeer and bull in a row lay plain differences in scale.

Throughout, just enough elements are left intact to preserve the outward familiarity of the animals, even as you marvel at the sinew, muscle and internal organs. A horse head still covered in hair has been sliced into three pieces - revealing a disproportionately small brain. At the opening on Tuesday night, one visitor remarked, with apparent surprise, ?God, it smells of horse!?

Another case shows brains and nervous systems - cats' eyes are quite large in proportion to their brains. The diminutive proportions of a hare?s brain prompt a steady stream of amused comments. ?I?ve never understood the phrase,? one visitor said. ?I didn?t know it was that literal.?

Each time you turn a corner, there is another riveting sight. A massive bull, with hair hanging over its eyes and a ring through its nose, seems to grunt in suspended exertion - the exposed muscle conveys a terrifying amount of strength. (Perhaps no coincidence, the bull?s pose is reminiscent of that of the bronze sculpture on Wall Street.) What appears a giant red cast of a horse's head demonstrates the comprehensive capillary network. A series of small animals retain their familiar shapes - a rabbit, duck, lamb and piglet - though all that remains is the crimson network of their blood vessels.

Yet it is the final room of Animal Inside Out that leaves you speechless. Here is an Asian elephant, "exploded" to show the bones and muscle. It is dinosaurian in scale. Angelina Whalley, wife of von Hagens and director of the Institute for Plastination, explains that the elephant?s arterial network was actually replaced with red painted stainless steel rods to keep it upright. Some vessels are thicker than garden hoses. To complete the preservation, special cranes and tanks were required. Completing it cost ?3.5 million and took 64,000 hours. The result is breathtaking, and for me supports von Hagens' claims, sometimes criticised, that his work is educational: walking around the elephant feels like strolling through an animal anatomy textbook. Or climbing aboard the magic school bus.

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