The Evolution Store

www.theevolutionstore.com

[pussylatte]

“A wolf disguised as a sheep”  Deborah Sengl

[theevolutionstore-blog]

Where There’s Death, There’s Beauty

It’s not a sentiment that most people share, but for the tireless staff at The Evolution Store, this is absolutely true. Taxidermy is an art form, and when done right, even the dead can be given new life, its former beauty restored, preserved, and ultimately put on display. Most people see just the end result, and many of them don’t even want to know the process behind the taxidermy process. It’s not pretty, and it takes a long time.

It all starts with a dead animal, and this is where the ugly part takes place. The beauty of taxidermy cannot be achieved without decay, and the trick is to control that decay so the parts you need are preserved while the rest is broken down by bacteria and/or insects. 

Maceration is the process by which flesh is cleaned from bones with the use of bacteria. After the skin and most of the flesh is removed, the rest is submerged in water under carefully monitored conditions so that bacteria can break down the fleshy bits. This can take days or even weeks depending on the size of the animal. With smaller animals, the use of dermestid beetles can be used, as they eat dead flesh and leave the bones alone. Once the soft organic tissue is gone, the remaining bones are rinsed and whitened, usually with a peroxide solution.

The skin or hide needs to be cleaned, prepared, and tanned carefully so the fur and hair remains intact. And here’s where the art truly begins. The frame of the animal needs to be recreated to fit the hide, and it’s up to the taxidermist to decide on its pose and posture. The measurements need to be precise, otherwise you end up with something wonky-looking, poorly fitted, and with terrible aesthetic (but sometimes funny) value. The seams must be hidden, every tiny detail needs to be addressed in order to recreate the semblance of life. 

[forgottenboneyard]

I heard this Lyric Cicada making a distress call as it fell from the trees and found this Wheel Bug had quickly taken his prey.

[theevolutionstore-blog]

Nature’s not always fair :(

[theevolutionstore-blog]

Big Changes at The Evolution Store!

Hello friends!

You may have seen that we just launched our Brand New Website! And you may well have visited it and said to yourself "Gosh, this is different!" And if you are not the type who simply shrugs something like that off, you might be wondering what we are up to. The new site doesn't seem to have that much stuff on it yet, and it looks pretty different from the old one... What's the deal?

Well, we were having some trouble with our old site. It didn't work too well on a phone, and it had grown so large that we were having a hard time keeping track of what was on it or not. Quite a few different people had worked on it over the years, some of whom were better than others at describing the items or inputting the text and data without typos or errors. If you ever ordered from us and had us contact you to let you know that we actually didn't have the item you ordered - even though our website insisted that we did - well, you know what I am talking about.

And it was not secure enough. We found out last year that somebody had forced their way into the backend of our old site and rooted around. We don't know of anyone who was seriously affected, but we took it very seriously and spent an enormous amount of money and effort on data forensics and contacting people whose information might possibly have been compromised. We beefed up the security on our old site as much as we could, but the best option we had was to rebuild the whole thing using a much more secure platform.

So that is what we did. We are adding lots of stuff to it going forward, but we are working hard to make sure that we don't lose track of which items we really have or not. We are rebuilding from the ground up with stronger, clearer information and hopefully a better-working interface. It is a work in progress, and we hope you will bear with us as we work out the kinks.

Please send us feedback or ideas and let us know what you think!

Best Regards,

Julianna Stevens President

The Evolution Store

[coolthingoftheday]

The coconut crab, also known as the “robber crab” or “palm thief”, are a species of terrestrial hermit crab, and are the largest land-living arthropod in the world. Oddly, they cannot swim, and have developed an acute sense of smell. 

Coconut crabs are so named because they have been widely reported being seen climbing trees to pick coconuts, which they will then carry away to crack open and eat.

[theevolutionstore-blog]

They may have eaten Amelia Earhart :(

[theevolutionstore-blog]

This is the winner of the banner vote for our new website! Thank you everyone who participated! People who came in the store and voted were entered into a raffle to win a full set of Seba prints...winner will be drawn soon!

[thegreenwolf]

Hey, folks–I know I haven’t been posting a lot of art or book or other stuff the past few days. I have been SUPER busy getting ready for this weekend, where I’m double-booked vending two of my favorite events!

My minions will be vending at Kumoricon in Vancouver, WA; I’ll be sad to miss out on all the anime goodness, though I WILL be there the last bit of Monday if you really want to see me. In the meantime, you can visit the Green Wolf booth in the dealer’s hall for tails, ears and other awesome creations!

Meanwhile I’ll be at FaerieWorlds–this is my EIGHTH year providing the fey folk with a beautiful variety of hide and bone costuming and other nature-inspired art and books! And I’ll be providing not one but two workshops this year, one on Hides and Bones in Ritual Costuming and another on Finding and Working With Animal Totems. You can find out more about the workshops here. 

[theevolutionstore-blog]

We love this!

[bonafide-bullshark-deactivated2]

fwoop

[mixedmantids]

I DIED. Seeing them jump from this angle always cracks me up.

[jennyrage]

FWOOP

[nevver]

The bone room

[theevolutionstore-blog]

Our new website launch comes with a few perks for fans and shoppers! Every 100th order will receive a free gift certificate! Feeling lucky?

[nevver]

Stitchwork, Meredith Woolnough

[theevolutionstore-blog]

Absolutely gorgeous work!

[fossilstore-deactivated20210405]

Superb #emericiceras #barremense #ammonite.These #cretaceous period #fossils once filled the ancient seas over what is now North Africa. Termed heteromorphs the ammonites started an evolutionary path uncoiling out of the #logarithmic spiral forms, eventually almost becoming a walking stick form, see previous post. #fossilsale #spiral #helices #involute #evolute These ammonites became #extinct around 74 million years ago, while a cousin the #nautilus is #extant. Science has not yet found the answer to that intriguing question. Yet!?! Our latest collection arrived from North Africa last week.

[theevolutionstore-blog]

The wait is over! The brand new Evolution Store website is now live! We’re still uploading new products and updating everything, so bear with us! We’ll be at 110% in no time!

www.theevolutionstore.com 

[blackbackedjackal]

Tarsiers

[keroa]

reblog if AAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[numahachi]

アアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアアア

[phuiscribbles]

啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊  啊 啊 啊

[jukun]

[valbrandur]

[ddemotivators]

AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

[minervafloofderg-migrating]

[theevolutionstore-blog]

[skullsvilleusa]

Original poster said:

I gotta post this here as well.

This was my most beloved reptile pet that I have sold due to financial reasons. I still regret that decision.

Got him when he was a baby from a rescue, the snake has had his venom glands removed via surgery and had a lot of complications. I treated him with antibiotics etc. and force fed him for a while. He was with me over 3 years.

[theevolutionstore-blog]

What a gorgeous cobra! Sorry you had to sell him :(

[theevolutionstore-blog]

Our Fabricators preparing some bats to be jarred