The large Reserve Collection Room at Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), Bhubaneswar, Odisha is an animal kingdom in itself. And Siba Prasad Parida sits in the company of the who’s who. To his right, on a shelf sits a stuffed kangaroo, next to it crouches a majestic black panther. Processed and stuffed by the famous taxidermists Van Ingen & Van Ingen. On his left are more animals, a hyena, a muntjac and a monkey, all reduced to their skeletons though. The skeletons are Parida’s own works. And they are everywhere.
RMNH, a Ministry of Environment and Forests body was created for environment awareness and conservation education. Parida’s list of works include a 47.3 feet Baleen Whale, Russel Viper, a 19.8 feet estuarine crocodile in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary’s mini interpretation centre and an African Black Rhino at RMNH.
In last eight years, he has to his credit over two dozen of skeleton preservations which are mostly on display at RMNH and have given it a new identity. “It is through the excellent array of skeleton preservations that the Bhubaneswar museum has carved a niche for itself among its contemporaries and credit must go to Parida,” says G N Indresh, in-charge of RMNH. Eminent herpetologist Dr H R Bustard wanted to meet Parida when he saw the massive skeleton preserves at Bhitarkanika during his last visit to the state.
Parida actually could have been anything, an automobile engineer (he has a degree), a zoologist (he has a PhD in Haematological Studies of Reptiles of Odisha) or even a sportsman (he has represented India in International Throwball Championship). Instead he was drawn to the skeleton preservation by chance in 2004 when the then director of RMNH Dr P Roy asked him if he could work on a spotted deer.
“My zoology background came as a big help. Since I knew about anatomy, I could work on the deer and it was the first such work to be put up at the museum,” he says. In 2005, his first major work was the preservation of an African Black Rhino which had come from Mysore Museum in a mummified condition. He had to completely dismantle the body and re-assemble the skeleton. “It was a lot of hard work since it was mummified. We had to give it chemical treatment to soften the muscles as incision was not possible. Everything was done manually, every bone was detached and fixed all over again,” he reminisces.
The next year, Parida had to complete the skeleton preservation of a 15-year-old tusker in a month’s time. Apart from his zoology background, his training as an automobile engineer also comes handy. When he was working on the 47.3 ft Baleen Whale that was washed ashore at Gopalpur three years ago he and his team worked eight days and eight nights through the putrefying smell emanating from the maggot-infested carcass. When it was cleaned up and chemically processed, the challenge was to re-assemble and give its original shape. Parida spent hours to design drill bits using brake rods of Royal Enfield Bullet that was used in re-assembling the skeleton. The massive skeleton is one of the largest in the museum and is displayed in such a fashion that it can take shocks and shakes without suffering any damage.
“These skeletons may look somewhat bland to the naked eye but not many understand that there is a great sense of ecological significance to them. For, the future generation may not get to see some of these animals at all,” he explains.
Skeleton preservation is not Parida’s only forte. He has tried his hands successfully at taxidermy having stuffed a barking deer, spotter deer, hyena, pangolin, viper and birds. Dry preservation and wet preservation apart, he has been working on galleries in the museum having developed the North East Gallery, Marine Biodiversity Gallery among others. Besides, Parida and his works remain a major source for researchers of the region.
Weird as it may sound, even with such solid achievements, he works as an interpreter on a contract basis at the RNHM, Bhubaneswar. His attempts to join the regular rolls have met with letters of regret, sometimes over his age and most of the times over his over-qualification for the job—he has 15 published full research papers to his name.
Not that such hiccups have dissuaded him, as he relentlessly lends his skills to save the dying skeleton preservation form.