‘This is totally unique': Why the RAM is rejuvenating a taxidermied elephant from the 60s

CTV News

26-07-2025

The Royal Alberta Museum is giving new life to a taxidermied elephant and using it as an opportunity to show guests what goes on behind the scenes.
The Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) is giving new life to a taxidermied elephant that lived in the Calgary Zoo in the 60s.
The museum says Gyro the elephant has been hidden from the public for most of his life.
'We're just happy to have it out front of house and having fantastic conservation staff working on it,' said Nick Cairns, curator with the RAM.
Gyro is a juvenile Asian elephant who came from Toronto in the 1960s. He lived in the Calgary Zoo until his death in 1967, after his female mate, Gyrette II, knocked him into a dry moat. He was 6-years-old and wasn't fully grown.
The museum acquired him in 1979 through the Riveredge Foundation and has never been displayed to the public before. Now, visitors will be able to see history conservator Gigi Kulis give him a fresh look close to the entrance.
Gyro the elephant
Natural history conservator Gigi Kulis working on Gyro the elephant at The Royal Alberta Museum (Miriam Valdes-Carletti/CTV News Edmonton)
'I love working on taxidermy and I fortunately get to do that with the work I do but this is totally unique and novel, it's pretty amazing,' Kulis told CTV News Edmonton.
Cairns says having Kulis working on Gyro in the public eye is also a way to show guests what goes on behind-the-scenes at the museum.
'They're working really, really hard at making things look amazing when they might have been stuck in a basement or stuck in an attic for half a century,' Cairns said.
While elephants aren't native to Alberta, the museum says Gyro's time spent at the Calgary Zoo makes him a part of provincial history.
Gyro the elephant
Gyro the elephant celebrating one year living at the Calgary Zoo with a cake. (Glenbow Archives)
'He is, as far as we know, the only taxidermied elephant in western Canada and in our collection,' said Carme Li, head of curation at the RAM.
It's one of the biggest reasons the museum is giving him a makeover. Part of the conservation process includes fixing the cracks on his body and getting rid of over paint to unveil more natural characteristics.
The museum says Gyro will be on display for the next couple of months.