Mammal Kind Fur
Over thirty years ago, Acorn Naturalists pioneered the effort to encourage educators to embrace using skull replicas to reduce the killing of wild animals for their skulls. Acorn Naturalists has always only sold replicas for this reason. Acorn Naturalists is now pioneering the concept of replacing animal pelts and animal study skins with animal replica fur, or Kind Fur® for use by educators and interpreters. Acorn Naturalists Kind Fur® faux fur replicas are designed to give children the look and feel of animal study skins or animal pelts—they work well with storytelling, discovery tables, or to supplement children's books about different animals. We need to emphasize, however, that these animal fur replicas are not real animal study skins or animal pelts (they lack eye holes, ears, noses, paws and tails found in animal pelts and animal study skins). Unlike trapped fur, these fur replicas do not require chain-of-custody permits, special storage or preservation requirements. Most importantly, Kind Fur® does not require the trapping and killing of animals that are better left alive in the wild to support the delicate ecological balance between predator and prey populations. It is also important to note that in nature there is tremendous variation in animal fur color, in the same species from different locations or seasons. The fur replicas we offer are close in appearance and feel for each species. Acorn Naturalists offers over thirty different animal fur replicas, including opossum, beaver, muskrat, squirrel, rabbit, bat, bear, cougar, bobcat, raccoon, skunk, badger, weasel, coyote, red fox, gray fox, and wolf fur replicas. In addition to many other educational uses, fur replicas help illustrate the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS), specifically Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI) LS1.