Talk:Fiji mermaid

Original exhibit
"The original exhibit was shown around the United States, but was lost in the 1860s when Barnum's museum caught fire. The exhibit has since been acquired by the Harvard Peabody Museum and is currently housed in the museum's attic storage area."

How can the exhibit first be lost in a fire and then be acquired by the Harvard Peabody Museum?


 * My best guess is that a second Fiji Mermaid was created to replace the first. At least, I think that's what it's trying to say... (from User:runa27, not logged in)


 * I agree. The history section looks suspiciously like it was copied word-for-word out of a book. Because of this, there are several sentences that make no sense (another being the "puff" sentence) which are most likely fully explained elsewhere in the book. I've added citation tags and an additional clarification tag. Klopek007 (talk) 07:33, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The article states:

In reality, the mermaid was a gaff, the work of an Indonesian craftsman using either papier-mâché and materials from exotic fish, or the tail of a fish and a torso of a baby orangutan, stitched together with the head of a monkey.

It seems that this sentence is in need of editing. Where is the citation for the fact that the craftsman was Indonesian? And how was the construction of the hoax limited to precisely two such disparate options as papier-mâché and materials from exotic fish vs. the tail of a fish and a torso of a baby orangutan, stitched together with the head of a monkey? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Timkhuff (talk • contribs) 17:05, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Here's a link to the item at Harvard if that helps - Robert Paynter: http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/col/longDisplay.cfm?ObjectKey=93625 —Preceding comment was added at 15:34, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

One of the articles linked to in here even says that what they have at Harvard Peabody is very unlikely to be the same specemin. Someone should edit this artice to make that clear. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cjd411 (talk • contribs) 15:10, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

The Harvard Peabody museum does not claim to have the original Fiji Mermaid, but to have a copy that was made to rival the original mermaid. In their youtube video on the subject, the docent says that Harvard owns two mermaids, and that this one is made of part fish, part monkey, papier mache, clay, and wool. No information is given on the other mermaid in the collection. 98.194.34.232 (talk) 04:28, 29 December 2014 (UTC)Carol Phillips flyingdragongoddess@earthlink.net

Composition
According to Paolo Viscardi at the Horniman Museum, Fiji mermaids of the 1800s were not actually made of taxidermied monkeys, but rather were constructed out of wood, paper-maché, etc., with a few details like jaws and fins added for realism. We might want to incorporate this into the article. Ref: http://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/stories/manmade-mermaids/story-chapter/mermaid-species 73.223.96.73 (talk) 00:03, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

in need of revision
lots of sentence fragments and run-ons — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.59.246.35 (talk) 23:00, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

appearance of Fiji mermaid before P.T. Barnum
There's a section about false claims of the original mermaid, but is there anything about a mermaid that genuinely existed before this? Cmatvc (talk) 17:52, 19 February 2021 (UTC)