American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

The Making of a Python (Exhibition); Exhibit of the Month: The Making of a Python
birth: 1974 March 1
death: 1974 March 31
Exhibition. Opened March 1, 1974 and closed March 31, 1974. Located on Floor 2, Section 12 on the second floor in the rotunda of the New York State Roosevelt Memorial at the American Museum of Natural History. The Making of a Python, an "Exhibit of the Month", explained the process of casting a plaster mold from a live Burmese python for the Museum's Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians, which was being updated at the time and reopened in 1977. The mold was made in collaboration with the New York Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo) (1).
Summary
The Making of a Python, an "Exhibit of the Month", explained the process of casting a plaster mold from a live Burmese python for the Museum's Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians, which was being updated at the time and reopened in 1977. The mold was made in collaboration with the New York Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo) (1).
Animal replicas were usually made by treating and mounting the skins of dead animals, and the effort by the American Museum of Natural History-Bronx Zoo team was believed to be the first instance of a live animal molding. The snake itself, imported from Southeast Asia, was nine feet long and weighed 35 pounds. The team included Dr. Charles J. Cole from Herpetology and David J. Schwendeman and Seymour M. Couzyn from the Museum's Exhibition Department. For the python's safety, the Museum first ran tests to determine that it would not be harmed by the heat created as the plaster dried and hardened. During the process the animal was anesthetized with halothane. While asleep, the snake was settled into a coiled position, typical when a female incubates her eggs. The process lasted 17 minutes and was performed at the Bronx Zoo hospital, after which the mold came to the Museum, where it was painted scale by scale to match the living model. Frederica Leser painted the plaster model, though documentation does not state whether she was the sole artist or part of a team (1; 2, p. 16-17; 3).
The exhibition itself featured the live python in a glass case and together with captioned photographs which explained the molding process. After the exhibition closed, the python was transferred to a habitat at the Bronx Zoo, and the plaster model was installed in the updated Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians at the American Museum of Natural History (4).
This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.