The dioramas in the Jill and Lewis Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals have always been splendid, but after more than a year of painstaking restoration, they look better than ever—giving visitors close looks at many species of North American flora and fauna.
This multi-video series documents the renovation of the dioramas, from the animals themselves to the foreground landscapes and background paintings.
The careful restoration of the antelope jackrabbit's ears, for example, included adding lost hairs by hand and repainting the inner ears, to mimic the effect of orange-pink sunlight glowing through.
The Museum team replenished the foreground in the American bison and pronghorn diorama using real grasses sent from a prairie preserve in the U.S. Great Plains.
The faded fur of animals including coyotes, black-footed ferrets, and bison was primped and re-dyed to its original colors, a rich brown in the case of the bison.