Plastination is a technique of preserving bodies or body parts by
replacing the water and fat components by certain plastics, thereby
yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even
retain most properties of the original sample. Plastination was invented
by the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens in 1977, and later he
founded the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg in 1993. Dr von
Hagens plastinated animals are now on display at an exhibition called “Body Worlds of Animals” at the Cologne Zoo.
