First mascot brought back to Penn State

By PAULA SHAKI
Collegian Staff Writer

The Nittany Lion was the first response a resourceful University baseball player could think of in 1904 when a Princeton University player asked what the Penn State mascot was.

"When players needed a mascot in 1904, they immediately thought of the Nittany mountain lion because it was sitting right there in Old Main," said Richard Yahner, professor of wildlife conservation.

The only mounted specimen in Pennsylvania of the eastern mountain lion was shot in 1856, one year after the University was founded. The history of that lion, first displayed in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and then in Old Main from 1894 until 1929, coincides with the history of the University, Yahner said.

When Old Main was rebuilt in 1929, the Zoology Department stored the preserved lion in Watts Hall and used it to teach zoology classes, Yahner said.

The lion was loaned to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh in 1953 as part of an exhibit on endangered species called "Deadline for Wildlife," said Duane Schlitter, curator of mammals at the Carnegie Museum.

The exhibit was to be temporary, but it was so popular that it lasted 18 years. The lion was stored in taxidermy labs at the museum while Schlitter tried to return it to the University.

In 1993, Yahner sent two students to Pittsburgh to retrieve the lion and "restore it to its rightful place in the heirlooms of Penn State," Schlitter said. "It's 140 years old. Not many things that old are that pretty, and the lion needs to be restored."

Brad Ross, one of the students who brought back the lion, said it needs a climate-controlled case and lots of care.

"One thing the museum stressed a lot is that it's a really valuable specimen because of its historical value and taxidermy of the past," said Ross (graduate-ecology).

Because the lion, internally supported by a metal frame, needs so much work and care, Yahner has started "The Original Nittany Mountain Lion Fund" for the restoration of the specimen.

Today the lion stands in a room in Ferguson Building, showing its 140 years. Its teeth are still bared ferociously, but its fur is wearing thin and a bandage covers part of its tail.

"The techniques of the day were such that it does not look as it would if it were preserved by a modern-day taxidermist. We want to preserve that 1850 taxidermy," Yahner said. "I want to be able to display it somewhere on campus where everyone can enjoy it."

Schlitter said it has historical significance as a specimen of the animal and represents a technical skill -- taxidermy of the 1850s -- that is gone. One way or the other, it is quite valuable, he said.

Yahner plans for the lion to be restored by a professional conservator from the Smithsonian Institution. It will then be displayed in an air- and humidity-tight case. He also wants to create visuals, decorative plaques or computerized displays to explain this animal, how it got to the University and how it relates to being the mascot.

It will cost between $32,000 and $40,000 to properly restore the lion, Yahner said.

"The feeling is if we're going to do it let's do it right. We have the resources on campus for a state-of-the-art display," he said. Donations for the fund are being accepted at the development office in the Agricultural Administration Building.

"I'm from State College, and it's kind of a neat thing for me because I'm a big sports fan," Ross said. "To get the 'Nittany Lion' home is a big thing."