A day in the life of a taxidermist

Over a few days in early September, Ken Mar drove from the Singapore Zoo to his HDB flat in Bishan with different parts of a lioness carcass in plastic containers in his van.

The 54-year-old is a taxidermist and the zoo had commissioned Mr Mar to preserve the lioness after it died in a scuffle with some younger lions.

This week, he is putting the finishing touches to the lioness - which measures around 2.4m and was aged 16 years when it died. Its preserved form stands in the middle of his living room.

It is all in a day's work for the full-time professional taxidermist who, over the past 18 years, has preserved more than 60 creatures, ranging from beetles and scorpions to large animals such as deer and bears.