Furring and Painting

Many of the animals that you’ll see featured in the exhibits at the Ark Encounter are modified taxidermy forms, but the artist modifying the forms still doesn’t have an easy job. For example, just to make one animal kind, the artist first works with Mike Belknap, AiG researcher on Ark kinds. They examine pictures and studies of the animal’s fossils that have been found to determine what the animal might have looked like. They attempt to figure out whether the animal is related to any of today’s animals or if it’s extinct. They also consider the environment it may have lived in as well as its lifestyle. These details help the artists determine what kind of fur to give it, what color it is, and so on. In this video, AiG exhibit artist Joel Briggs, working on the Ark Encounter, describes how he and the researchers work to complete the animal kind model from there: