History Channel Announces Mounted in Alaska

The roots of taxidermy date back to ancient times, and can even be traced through such famous taxidermists as Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.

Now, the exciting, entertaining and often surprising world of taxidermy is revealed in a new half-hour personality-driven series, MOUNTED IN ALASKA, premiering on Thursday, April 7 with back-to-back episodes at 10/10:30pm ET on HISTORY.

Enter the unusual workplace of Russell Knight, the owner of Knight's Taxidermy; an Alaska based family-run shop with a worldwide reputation for doing some of the finest work in the business. Assisting Russell is an expert team of colorful craftsmen and outdoorsmen with a passion for preserving the wildlife and natural history that hunters and fishermen - from local Alaskans to African hunters - bring into the shop.

With over 30 years of experience under his belt, Russell does more than just some of the best work in the industry. There's no job too challenging for him to tackle. From mounting a charging warthog so that it's busting through a wall in one client's home to creating the world's first camel form to the complete restoration of an historic 50-year-old polar bear that's an Alaskan landmark - Russell is constantly put to the test with difficult and sometimes strange requests for mounts from his customers that come from all over the world.

In upcoming episodes of MOUNTED IN ALASKA, viewers will see Russell work with Theodore Roosevelt?s personal taxidermy kit, which Roosevelt took with him into the field on his epic hunting expeditions. And, they will even watch Russell employ the historical taxidermy technique of hand wrapping, which was the method used by early taxidermists to simulate the body and bone structure of an animal before the advent of modern foam and chemicals.

From concept to completion, viewers will see the true, pressure-packed process of what it takes to preserve natural history - all on a deadline - and always for a demanding client.

MOUNTED IN ALASKA is produced for HISTORY by Thinkfactory Media. Executive Producers for HISTORY are David McKillop and Charles Nordlander. Executive Producers for Thinkfactory Media are Adam Reed, Adam Freeman, Joanne Rubino and Leslie Greif.

HISTORY(R) and HISTORY HD(R) are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network's program offerings are hit series such as American Pickers, Ax Men, The Universe, Ice Road Truckers, Top Gear, Pawn Stars and Top Shot, as well as acclaimed specials including America the Story of Us, WWII in HD, 102 Minutes That Changed America, The President?s Book of Secrets and Life After People. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, seven Primetime Emmy(R) Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History(R) campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network's latest initiative connecting America's schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY website, located at www.history.com, is the leading online resource for all things history, featuring over 20,000 videos, images, audio clips, articles and interactive features that allow visitors to dig deeper into a broad range of thousands of historical topics.

To post a comment, you must register and login.