I know alot of you have elephant taxidermy so my question is are the ears real or fake? My taxidernist wants to use fake ears on the head mount and do something else with the ears . Please let me know if you have done this or seen it done.

tom ,
i have seen it done many many times and actually without touching them you can hardly tell that they are fake - up on your wall you cannot tell -its what i would recommend and it leaves the ears free to have painted or used for other things -

The ears should be split, thus providing you with 4 ears. You can have them painted in Africa or here in the states. There are artists here who specialize in painting on the ears and you can find them at the SCI show. I presume they are at DSC as well.

Here are some various pictures of elephant shoulder mounts that we have completed in the last 18 months. Only one has the original ears...

i have seen the mounts and so i know which one , otherwise it would be impossible to tell !

Very nice mounts

Ivan is it the 3rd one down?

quote:

otherwise it would be impossible to tell !

I would guess second one up from the bottom as well?

I think the repros look good though.

I would recommend the repro ears as then you have the real ears to do the artwork, wall hangings etc..

The repro ears can be notched and customized to match the look of your elephant if you have good photos. No problem using the repro ears if your taxidermist is good with the finish work. The ones above look very good to me.

Love the one with the trunk rested on the tusk. That is really nice looking.

Dan, with your elephant experience (have not done one yet myself)it might help to explain some of the problems associated with using the real ears (drumming issues and how you deal with that! etc..). Would love to hear your take.

Cheers.

Where is the crusty earth, the dust, the muddy stain of Africa? These mounts look like they have been through a car wash.

Quite boring ears whether they are real or not.

Dan, I am now offering for sale 5 gallon bucket fulls of repro red African dust from my backyard. Let me know how many you need.

That ear painting of the big 5 and the hunter is OUTSTANDING!

What would something like that run?

I would guess the third one down as well; 1&4 have the same ear pattern. The only one with torn ears is the third from the top.

But they all look good. Personally, I think an elephant shoulder mount is too overwhelming. But hey, my TR only has 14 foot ceilings...

Thanks for all the comments guys. The pedestal with the torn ears is the real ears (second from the bottom)

I like the constructive criticism the best. I think you are right about the dirt and dust on an elephant. I need to work on that one. Although the pictures wash it out a little and it does look better in person, the dust and dirt thing is very true...

The elephant ear paining with big 5 and self portrait is 5500.00. Picture does not do it justice. I think a very well done ear painting is incredible. I also think the price is right when you consider it is an artists original that can never be reproduced...

Wow, very cool and well done. I like the one with the resting trunk the best.

If you want an option on ear painting try Clive Kay who lives in Canada but comes over to the US to do the painting at a studio, thus, no border crossing. His price is very competitive at around $2k for mounting and painting. Big 5 is a little more than what he has done for me which were large individual items. I think around $3500. He has done 4 ears for me and as many more for local friends. Here is weblink.

http://www.clivekay-artist.com/ElephantEarArt.htm

Every mounted head I have seen so far never shows the ear hole and the hair found there... Why?
I asked a taxidermist once and his answer no one can see it on the backside of the ear. My comment is, " your ear hole is in the front and so is an elephant's." He said I was wrong.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
Every mounted head I have seen so far never shows the ear hole and the hair found there... Why?
I asked a taxidermist once and his answer no one can see it on the backside of the ear. My comment is, " your ear hole is in the front and so is an elephant's." He said I was wrong.
Mike

And I wonder why mounted animals often look odd....

mike ,
that hair is actually pretty fine and the skin there pretty thick , all the hair falls out during the tanning process - the earholes are there though !

I took back my ear skins, but right now I am using one as a floor pad for my deskchair in my TR. I like the art idea, but I am running out of wall space, and I like to display photos and art as well. I even wish I had more fish.

I thought the painting was fabulous, but I wouldn't want my picture in there. But then again, you can never sell the painting, so I guess who cares, huh?

We have a friend who is an artist who has done some large scale paintings (I think they are 4x8 feet). He is quite good. He offered to do some stuff on my elephant ears, but I don't know what I would do with it.

Thanks for all the great ideas , I will post pictures when it is done.

I have a question regarding elephant mounts. In the first three photos of the elephant shoulder mounts the tusks appear to be "pulled"(I think that is the correct term) to make them look longer.

On these mounts the portion of the tusk that extended past the gumline when the elephant was alive is clearly a different color than the the portion that was hidden.

So, my question: is it possible to paint the tusk where it meets the gumline so that it is not so obvious that the tusks have been extended further than when they were in the living elephant.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
I have a question regarding elephant mounts. In the first three photos of the elephant shoulder mounts the tusks appear to be "pulled"(I think that is the correct term) to make them look longer.

On these mounts the portion of the tusk that extended past the gumline when the elephant was alive is clearly a different color than the the portion that was hidden.

So, my question: is it possible to paint the tusk where it meets the gumline so that it is not so obvious that the tusks have been extended further than when they were in the living elephant.

Yes

Just out of interested. What would the cost be to get an ear painted like the one in the pic from wildlife gallery?