If you enjoy the taxidermy specimens in Buckhorn Exchange, here’s more in the Shenzhen Museum.
Situated right at the main lobby of the Shenzhen Museum are two huge specimens of an African elephant and giraffe. They are not made from fibreglass and are real stuffed animals donated by Kenneth E. Behring.
Who is Kenneth E Behring
Kenneth Eugene Behring (1928 – 2019) was an American real estate developer, and former owner of the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks. On the night of his birth in Freeport, Illinois, Ken Behring’s mother was rushed to the hospital, but her child was born in an elevator en route to the delivery room. Behring liked to say that he was impatient for life to begin and that he never waited for things to happen ever since.
After he sold the Seahawks in 1988 for a considerable profit, Behring then became fully involved in a nonprofit organization he called the Wheelchair Foundation, which delivers hundreds of thousands of wheelchairs to poor, disabled people on five continents.
He was also famous for his collection of taxidermy animals which he generously donated to museums around the world, including the Smithsonian. This collection was mainly from his donation.
What is Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal’s body via mounting or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state.
The exhibition is divided into three main parts; the African grasslands, the American prairie and the Artic glaciers.
You either like these kinds of stuffed animals or not, but you have to appreciate the effort for amassing such a collection (and this is not the only museum Behring has donated to!).
The Artic Circle
The American Prairie
The African Safari
The Predators
The Preys
Shenzhen Museum of History and Folk Culture
Shenzhen Museum was founded in 1981. It consists of 4 museum sites including Shenzhen Museum of History and Folk Culture, Shenzhen Museum of Ancient Art, Dongjiang River Guerrilla Command Headquarters Memorial Museum and Shenzhen Reform and Opening-up Exhibition Hall.
Located in Shenzhen Civic Center, the Shenzhen Museum of History and Folk Culture, opened in December 2008, takes up 12,500 square meters of land, and covers a construction area of 33,600 square meters. The exhibition building has a total of 3 floors, including 5 basic exhibition halls and 2 special exhibition halls, with an exhibition area of more than 10,000 square meters. The ground floor is a storehouse of cultural relics. In addition, the exhibition building also has multi-functional report Hall, VIP Hall, teahouse, souvenir shops and other ancillary service facilities.
Opening hours : 10:00~18:00 (Visitors are not allowed to enter the museum after 17:30. Closed on Mondays. Open during major festivals and closed the first day after major festivals)
Visited in Jan 2022
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