Many people consider The Lion of Gripsholm Castle to be one of the worst examples of taxidermy known to man. The lion looks like a cartoon character from hell. This poor cat shouldn't have been held in captivity in the first place. It's unknown whether the taxidermist made the lion look this way on purpose or not, but the results are shockingly bizarre nonetheless.
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"The Lion of Gripsholm Castle (from 18th century Sweden) is considered one of the worst examples of taxidermy.
In 1731, King Frederick I of Sweden was gifted a lion from the Bey of Algiers. It was one of the first lions in Scandinavia and was kept in captivity and put on display for several years until its death. The story goes that the taxidermist who was hired to stuff and mount the dead lion had never seen a real lion and therefore took some artistic liberties.
Another theory is that the taxidermist actually knew what a real lion looked like but deliberately chose to stuff it in a way so that it would resemble a heraldic lion (swipe left) found in Sweden's Coat of Arms.
I'm going to give the taxidermist the benefit of the doubt and say that the look of the lion was intentional. After all, the stuffed lion is even holding a traditionally heraldic pose with its tongue sticking out, not to mention its pearly whites!"
(Image from wikipedia)
