For decades, the Museum of Vancouver's taxidermy collection languished in storage, as the museum turned toward more technologically driven ways to present natural history.

Finally, this winter, they dusted off the old, stuffed corpses for an exhibit called "Ravishing Beasts: The Strangely Alluring World of Taxidermy." "We didn't know what to expect at first," Genny Krikrorian, the museum's marketing officer, told Asylum. "But the response has been overwhelmingly positive."

See, it turns out taxidermy is pretty controversial in some quarters. Read on to learn more about that and see some ravishing beasts.

The Museum of Vancouver goes to great lengths to make clear no animals were killed specifically for this exhibit. Instead, they were donated in their current state at least 60 years ago.

Exhibit curator Rachel Poliquin explains, "Ravishing Beasts is a rare opportunity to question taxidermy's cultural legacy, current value, and future relevance both within and beyond museums."

The basic concept of taxidermy is that the animal is skinned, a chemical is used to cure the skin and fur, and then this preserved skin is placed over a synthetic cast of the animals body. If done correctly, taxidermy maintains even the smallest details of an animal.

"Ravishing Beasts" will be on display until Feb. 28.

Musk Ox
Polar Bear
Golden Pheasant
Kermode Bear