OUT of its natural habitat, the giant squid Architeuthis dux is something of a flop. “They’re so heavy, they collapse under their own weight. You lose the lovely cylindrical mantle and arms,” says Steve O’Shea, squid expert at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.
But now for the first time, two huge giant squid specimens are being prepared to go on display. And the preparation is being done by controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, who will use the “plastination” technique that he uses to display human bodies.
Von Hagens invented plastination while at the University of Heidelberg…
