Art conservation is meant to preserve the masterpieces of history for future generations, but sometimes, these well-intentioned efforts go horribly wrong. Whether due to a lack of expertise, rushed decisions, or sheer carelessness, some restoration attempts have left artworks unrecognizable or damaged beyond repair. These failures remind us that art conservation is as much an art as it is a science, requiring skill, patience, and respect for the original work.

This list counts down ten infamous art conservation disasters, highlighting the mistakes that turned cultural treasures into cautionary tales.

Related: Top 10 Weird Images in Renaissance Paintings

10 The Melting Murillo: The Immaculate Conception (Spain, 2020)

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables is a celebrated 17th-century masterpiece depicting the Virgin Mary. In 2020, a Spanish furniture restorer—who had no formal training in art conservation—was hired to clean the painting. The results were disastrous. After two failed attempts at “restoring” the Virgin Mary’s face, the work was left unrecognizable, resembling a blurry cartoonish figure rather than Murillo’s delicate artistry.

The incident sparked outrage and ridicule, with comparisons drawn to the infamous Ecce Homo restoration (which appears later on this list). Experts condemned the lack of oversight in Spain’s art restoration practices, where unregulated amateurs are often entrusted with valuable cultural artifacts. Murillo’s painting eventually required extensive professional restoration, but the event highlighted the ongoing risks of entrusting masterpieces to the wrong hands.^[1]

9 The Overwashed Sistine Chapel Ceiling (Italy, 1980s)

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo in the early 16th century, is one of the most iconic works of Western art. Between 1980 and 1994, a massive restoration project aimed to clean centuries of grime and soot from the frescoes. While the results brought vibrant colors back to life, critics argue that the restoration stripped away some of Michelangelo’s original details, particularly his subtle shadowing techniques, known as chiaroscuro.

Some art historians claim that overzealous cleaning altered the masterpiece’s intended depth and texture. They also allege that the restoration team relied too heavily on chemical solvents, permanently damaging parts of the fresco. While the Vatican defends the project as a necessary effort to preserve Michelangelo’s work, the controversy remains a heated topic among art experts, demonstrating the thin line between preservation and destruction.^[2]

8 The Repainting of The Last Supper (Italy, 18th Century)

Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is a Renaissance masterpiece, but it has suffered centuries of damage due to environmental factors and previous restoration attempts. The worst offender was an 18th-century effort by painter Giuseppe Mazza, who attempted to “fix” the fresco by painting over Leonardo’s original work.

Mazza used oil paints rather than tempera, which not only obscured Leonardo’s delicate brushwork but also caused further degradation of the fresco. The repainting was widely criticized and ultimately removed in subsequent restoration efforts, but the damage was irreversible. Modern techniques have since stabilized the painting, but much of Leonardo’s original genius is lost, leaving The Last Supper as a cautionary example of restoration gone wrong.^[3]

7 The Waxing of the Parthenon Sculptures (England, 1937)

In 1937, British Museum staff undertook a controversial cleaning project on the Parthenon Marbles (also known as the Elgin Marbles). Workers used wire brushes, abrasive tools, and even acid to strip away centuries of grime, believing they were restoring the sculptures to their original state. Instead, they removed valuable patina, leaving the surfaces irreparably damaged.

The cleaning was later described as a “calamity” by art historians, who argued that the Marbles’ historical integrity was compromised. The incident remains a sore point in debates over the Marbles’ ownership, with Greece citing the botched restoration as evidence of Britain’s inability to properly care for these ancient treasures.^[4]

6 The Darkened Rembrandt: The Night Watch (Netherlands, 1940s)

Rembrandt’s The Night Watch is a Dutch masterpiece, but a 1940s restoration attempt resulted in unintended damage. To “brighten” the painting, restorers applied a thick layer of varnish, which eventually darkened over time, obscuring much of the work’s detail.

When later efforts were made to remove the varnish, they caused abrasions to the painting’s surface, leading to further loss of Rembrandt’s original brushwork. The restoration efforts caused outrage among art lovers and highlighted the dangers of invasive techniques. Today, The Night Watch remains under close monitoring, with modern conservators using cutting-edge methods to prevent further damage.^[5]

5 The Frankenstein Mummy (Egypt, 19th Century)

In the 19th century, early Egyptologists attempted to conserve mummies using a variety of experimental techniques. One particularly disastrous example involved a mummy from the British Museum, which was treated with paraffin wax to stabilize its fragile wrappings. While the wax initially preserved the mummy, it later caused the linens to deteriorate, leaving parts of the artifact irreparably damaged.

The case exemplifies the trial-and-error approach of early conservation, where well-meaning but uninformed efforts often caused more harm than good. Today, conservators rely on non-invasive techniques, but the mistakes of the past serve as a reminder of the risks of experimenting on irreplaceable artifacts.^[5]

4 The “Cartoonish” St. George Statue (Spain, 2018)

In 2018, an attempt to restore a 16th-century wooden sculpture of St. George at the Church of San Miguel de Estella in Spain turned into a widely publicized disaster. The statue, depicting St. George slaying a dragon, was entrusted to a local crafts teacher lacking expertise in art restoration. The result was a garish transformation: the saint was repainted with bright pink cheeks, a flat expression, and an anachronistic color palette. The restoration obliterated the intricate details and historical layers of the original, sparking outrage among art historians and conservationists who lamented the irreversible damage to the centuries-old artifact.

The debacle highlighted the dangers of neglecting proper conservation protocols. Critics faulted the church and local authorities for failing to involve qualified professionals violating regulations for heritage preservation. The incident also reignited debates about protecting cultural artifacts, particularly in small communities with limited resources and awareness of conservation standards. Globally, the botched restoration attracted media attention and ridicule, with many comparing it to the infamous “Ecce Homo” fresco fiasco of 2012. While some hoped the uproar would spotlight the need for better funding and education in restoration practices, others mourned the loss of another irreplaceable piece of history to negligence.^[7]

3 The Flaking Vermeer: The Girl with the Pearl Earring (Netherlands, 1990s)

Johannes Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring is one of the most beloved paintings in the world, but a restoration effort in the 1990s stirred controversy among art historians and conservators. The cleaning was intended to remove layers of varnish and grime that had accumulated over centuries, obscuring Vermeer’s luminous colors and delicate brushwork. While the cleaning did reveal the painting’s original brilliance, it also introduced new risks. Some experts claimed that micro-flaking appeared in certain areas, particularly around the girl’s face and the iconic pearl earring, due to the cleaning solvents used.

In addition, critics argued that the restoration may have stripped away layers of glaze that Vermeer himself applied, subtly altering the painting’s texture and depth. Although The Girl with the Pearl Earring remains a global icon, the restoration raised questions about the ethics of interventions that prioritize aesthetic appeal over historical integrity. This incident highlights the challenges of preserving fragile works while balancing the expectations of modern audiences and museums.^[8]

2 The “Potato Head” Jesus: Ecce Homo (Spain, 2012)

In 2012, a fresco of Jesus Christ, Ecce Homo, became an international sensation after an amateur restoration attempt went disastrously wrong. Painted by 19th-century artist Elías García Martínez, the fresco was a modest but revered depiction of Christ in the Sanctuary of Mercy church in Borja, Spain. Cecilia Giménez, a well-meaning but untrained parishioner in her 80s, attempted to restore the deteriorating work [LINK 9]. The result was a grotesque image with distorted proportions and what many described as a “Potato Head” or “Monkey Jesus.”

While the restoration was widely mocked, it unexpectedly transformed the small town of Borja into a tourist destination. Visitors flocked to see the botched fresco, and it became a symbol of both art-world cautionary tales and internet humor. Despite its comedic legacy, the incident sparked serious discussions about the risks of allowing unqualified individuals to work on significant cultural artifacts. Some experts have argued that the fresco could have been saved if professional intervention had been sought earlier, but now it is permanently altered—albeit with a new, peculiar charm.^[9]

1 The Ruined Rockefeller Picasso: Le Tricorne (USA, 2014)

Pablo Picasso’s Le Tricorne, a 1919 painted stage curtain, became the center of a controversial incident in 2014 when it was damaged during a move from New York’s Four Seasons Restaurant to the New York Historical Society. The curtain, measuring over 20 feet (6 meters) tall, had been a beloved fixture at the restaurant for decades, acting as both a decorative centerpiece and a symbol of modern art’s integration into public spaces. When the building’s management decided to move the piece to accommodate renovations, experts warned of the risks involved in transporting such a fragile artwork.

Those warnings proved prescient when Le Tricorne was torn during the transfer due to improper handling and inadequate equipment. The incident caused outrage in the art community, with critics accusing the movers and property owners of negligence. Although the curtain was eventually repaired, the damage was irreversible in certain areas, diminishing the artwork’s historical and cultural value. The controversy reignited debates about the responsibilities of private owners in safeguarding public treasures and highlighted the dangers of underestimating the complexities of moving large-scale, delicate artworks.^[10]

Poaching is snowballing out of control. By threatening the variety of life on Earth, poachers disturb our ecosystems in ways that are not completely known. Resources are overused in the fight against these criminals. To ward off the threats, conservationists must think outside the box.

They leave cell phones in the woods to catch loggers and turn rhino horns pink with poison. Then there is EAGLE, the only eco-group that takes down the bad guys James Bond–style. All right, maybe not entirely like 007, but they are still pretty badass.

10 Environmental Disaster Time Bombs

10 Saving Water By Turning It Into Art

Fine living often comes at the expense of the environment. But a few years ago, a design student named Simin Qiu proved that taps can be upper-crust utensils and save water. While the faucet itself is chic, the real stunner is the water. While pouring, it looks like glass with patterns.

Qiu achieved this by running the water through a double turbine and nozzles capable of spinning different patterns. The faucet also limits the flow by 15 percent. Considering how much taps are used each day, this feature saves a lot of water. Additionally, the award-winning “Swirl Faucet” keeps the temperature steady which avoids unnecessary heating costs.^[1]

9 Saving Lions By Painting Cows

Antelope are swift. Lions and cows not so much. For this reason, the big cats are increasingly looking to buy steak. But the farmers are not selling. Instead, they shoot any lions that kill livestock or plainly any lion they see. There is a problem with that—wild African lions are endangered.

In 2015, desperation led to innovation. Conservationists started to paint the butts of cows.

They took inspiration from two facts. First, lions are ambush hunters. These predators often give up the hunt the moment they realize that their cover is blown. Second, butterflies have wing patterns with fake eyes to look more “aware” of anything that might be trying to eat them.

An experiment in Botswana suggested that these “butterfly eyes” might discourage lions from an attack. A herd of 62 cattle was followed for 10 weeks. A third of them grazed while fake eyes on their bums glared at the world behind them. During that time, three cows were killed but none of them were the marked ones.^[2]

8 Letting Grannies Count Toxic Snakes

In New Caledonia, tourists love swimming near the city of Noumea. The bay is also home to sea snakes. Researchers wanted to better understand the reptiles in order to protect them (and people from getting fangs in unspeakable places).

After studying all species for 15 years, the focus switched to one deadly customer. The greater sea snake is a 1.5-meter (4.9 ft) ribbon of venom. The survey was heartening. Only around 10 were spotted every year. But the numbers changed dramatically when a group of snorkeling seniors got wind of the project.

The seven women in their sixties and seventies were frequent swimmers at the bay. They offered to photograph any greater sea snake they saw. After receiving the green light, the grandmothers swam with the reptiles for years. Their work was groundbreaking.^[3]

The seniors captured unknown breeding behavior and hundreds of the toxic snakes. This massive population proved that the species was not aggressive. Countless swimmers visit the area, but nobody has ever been bitten.

7 Stalking Fish With Another Fish

The stalker is not a normal fish. Wiggling through the waters off Fiji, this robot rubs shoulders with shoals and they cannot tell the difference. The critter is called SoFi—or more adorably, the Soft Robotic Fish.

It was created by MIT to study fish without disturbing them. As pollution and overfishing decimate the oceans, time is running out to gather knowledge about vulnerable species. But a scuba diver with a notepad is not going to get up close and personal with fish. This is where SoFi can help.

The lifelike robot can record videos of natural behavior, the kind that rarely happens when humans are around. Besides spying on the reef crowd, SoFi also allows an accurate look at the health of the marine ecosystem. In fact, the wobbly wonder is doing such a good job that shoals of SoFis might monitor the ocean’s well-being one day.^[4]

6 Growing A Monster Jungle From Orange Peels

When Princeton scientists approached a fruit company in the 1990s, they wanted to make the land more fertile. They chose Del Oro, a juice company in Costa Rica. If Del Oro donated a part of its property to a nearby reserve, they could use the land as a free dumping site for all their orange peels. The company agreed.

Del Oro dumped 12,000 tons before a rival company interfered. TicoFruit claimed that the reserve was being defiled, and Costa Rica’s Supreme Court agreed. It did not seem to matter that the soil was so lifeless that it could not be defiled, even if Del Oro tried. But when the gavel came down, the experiment ended.

In 2013, a Princeton scientist was visiting Costa Rica for other reasons when he decided to check on the dumping site. He found something shocking. The soil had become insanely fertile. He could not find the giant sign that marked the site because it was overgrown with vines. (They finally found it years after his visit.)

The dead land was now a virile jungle. One fig tree was so thick that three people had to link together to hug the trunk.^[5]

Nobody had expected this level of success. Even more mysterious was how the humble orange peel had turned things around so quickly. Indeed, Del Oro had only dumped their waste for two years. Then the site was left alone for 16 years. The speedy recovery was inexplicable—and probably the greenest defilement on record.

10 Weird Environmental Issues With Serious Impacts On Wildlife

5 Making Cows Burp Seaweed

Cows are burping massive amounts of methane. This potent greenhouse gas is a natural part of their digestion. They swallow food, burp it back up, and then chew the cud before swallowing it again. Unfortunately, cows burp countless times a day and Planet Earth has a lot of cattle. A lot.

When a cow munches, an enzyme in their gut produces the methane. After trying several things, researchers found that seaweed made the enzyme a bit lazy. Which was great. The less active it was, the less methane the enzyme was likely to cough up.

One of the most remarkable reductions was seen when scientists added a mere 2 percent of seaweed (a type called Asparagopsis taxiformis) to the animals’ regular feed. The cows still burped up their food to chew, but it happened less and the methane dropped by 99 percent.^[6]

4 Hunting Poachers Like Foxes

The Kruger National Park is South Africa’s flagship reserve. Sadly, most rhinos that are poached are killed inside this park or the surrounding game farms. In the past, tracker dogs were used, but they stayed on leads. This slowed the chase, and too many poachers escaped.

Then the staff heard about coonhounds in Texas. This bloodline was bred for generations to be aggressive and to run in packs after escaped inmates. They ran the men down like foxes. The South Africans liked the idea of free-running dogs but not the fact that they were so aggressive. One demonstration left a heavily padded volunteer badly bruised.^[7]

The Texans complied and retrained some of their best dogs not to bite. The pack was then flown to South Africa. Scarcely had they landed when a call came in that a rhino had been killed.

The dogs were released from helicopters and caught the poachers. The next day, they caught some more. The day after that, two more. Since then, the coonhounds have caught 54 percent of poachers that enter the park. (Previously, it was more like 3 percent.)

3 Leaving Cell Phones In The Forest To Catch Loggers

Illegal tree loggers are swift and sometimes armed. In places where the local rangers are too scared or understaffed to deal with the problem, they can now look forward to catching thieves with an unusual surveillance system. Topher White is a conservation technologist who rigs treetops with old cell phones and AI software.

His California nonprofit, Rainforest Connection, has an annual budget of over $1 million, thanks to wealthy donors like Google and Huawei. By 2019, his units hugged treetops in several countries. Combined, these contraptions listened to a forested area of 2,590 square kilometers (1,000 mi²).

The cell phones are tweaked to detect noises from as far away as 1.6 kilometers (1 mi). The software then filters the feed in real time to look for sounds of logging. Once it picks up on trucks, chain saws, or trees splintering, the authorities are instantly alerted via an app.^[8]

This quick response has brought success. A pair of prolific Peruvian loggers was recently arrested. In Sumatra, illegal cutting slowed dramatically after Rainforest Connection strung the trees of a severely affected island.

2 Serving Up Poisoned Rhino Horns

There are rhinos in South Africa with pink horns. When poachers see this, they know that the product is spoiled. Rhinos are slaughtered in record numbers each year for traditional Eastern medicine. But a spice that promises bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, and stomachache will cause the loss of customers. These are the symptoms that come with eating pink rhino horns.

In 2013, wildlife managers walked into a store. They purchased over-the-counter dip for ticks and mixed it with pink dye. The poison was then injected into the hood ornaments of 100 rhinos.^[9]

The project is entirely legal. Those involved also played open cards with poachers and consumers by launching a media campaign to warn them. Reserves posted warning signs along their own fences, too. The pink toxin can be detected by airport scanners—even when the horn is already ground into a powder.

1 Going Undercover Like Nobody’s Business

The EAGLE Network is an eco-group. However, they do things differently. They do not march and wave placards at meat-eating people. They have zero interest in opening sanctuaries, educating the public, or tweaking policies. Instead, EAGLE is devoted to law enforcement. In fact, this is the world’s only nongovernmental enforcement agency.

They excel at undercover work and gathering evidence. In 2015, they took down Ansoumane Doumbouya, the top wildlife official in Guinea. For years, he illegally sold the very animals he was supposed to guard, especially great apes.

EAGLE members posed as buyers and built the case. Thanks to their work, Interpol and Guinean authorities had enough dirt on Doumbouya to arrest him. The moment was a big one. As many as 3,000 of Guinea’s wild apes are trafficked every year.^[10]

This avalanche of primates leaving the country is mainly due to corruption. Removing a powerful player like Doumbouya was a step in the right direction. For EAGLE, it was not the first step, either. Over 1,000 arrests across the world have been spearheaded by this group.

10 Problems With the Green Agenda

The main problem conservation biologists deal with is population: there’s either too much of one species or not enough of another. Because of the diversity in the animal and plant kingdoms, much of conservation work is concerned with the most effective ways to kill “bad” species and encourage “good” ones to reproduce. Here are a few of the most interesting ideas that scientists have used to control the lives of other species.

10 Panda Boot Camp

Some captive panda breeding programs have ended in heartbreak, like when Xiang Xiang the captive-bred panda was killed just one year after being released into the wild. That’s where the idea of panda boot camp comes in. Tao Tao was a giant panda raised in Wolong Nature Preserve with the goal of preparing him to live in the wild.

In addition to his mother’s training in basic skills like climbing, scientists put Tao Tao through drills to prepare him for hazards like storms, mudslides, and predators. Most importantly, they only interacted with him wearing panda costumes and scents so he would not grow accustomed to humans. Tao Tao was released in 2012 and recaptured for a health checkup in 2017, where he was reported to be thriving in the wild. The Wolong panda survival school raises several panda cubs every year, putting them through strict drills to make sure they’ll be able to look after themselves in the wild.

9 Fish-Zapping Vaccuum Robots

From the makers of Roomba comes the Guardian, a friendly marine robot on a mission to zap as many lionfish as it can. The lionfish is a venomous species that has become a major threat in areas like the Bahamas where it consumes far more species than any local predator. No predators are interested in the lionfish due to its venom, but they can be eaten by humans when prepared correctly. The problem is that they’re hard to catch through traditional fishing methods.

That’s where the Guardian comes in. The current version of the Guardian can swim as low as 500 feet below the surface, where it stuns lionfish and sucks them into a holding tube so they can be brought back up. It still requires a remote control when launched into the ocean to ensure that it does not zap similar species by mistake, but future iterations will likely be able to pick out lionfish with Terminator-like accuracy.

8 Dugong Drone Surveillance

Dugongs are an eastern relative of the manatee whose habitat is important for the coastal ecosystem of the Indian and Western Pacific oceans. Since they’re very shy creatures, it’s been a real pickle for scientists to monitor this unique and threatened species using traditional methods. Until recently, the best option was an aerial survey with a seaplane, but those kinds of flights can be dangerous and costly, especially when you run out of gas hundreds of miles from the nearest inhabited island.

That’s why scientists turned to drones, developing a remote tracking method that’s a lot more environmentally friendly and accurate than using planes. Drones are launched from small boats and collect thousands of images in a flight, which are analyzed by a dugong-spotting algorithm that gets it right around 70% of the time. This allows researchers to put together population density maps for this vulnerable species in a few days, making it an incredibly useful and time-saving process. Probably a much better use of drone technology than whatever your weird neighbor is doing with them.

7 Undercover Crane

If you want to hang with cranes, you’ve got to look the part. That’s the idea behind breeding programs that raise whooping cranes with human surrogates in white robes and crane-shaped hand puppets. Whooping cranes raised by humans will often imprint on them, recognizing them as a caregiver. This can cause a serious identity crisis when the crane reaches mating age and sees humans as potential mates. The obvious solution is to fool the cranes into thinking that we too are cranes.

Whooping cranes are the tallest bird in North America, so it’s easy for them to see us as equals in terms of size. All you need to complete the costume is a head-to-toe white covering with a crane head puppet at the end of one arm. Human noises are limited around the cranes and calls are piped in to get the chicks used to the sound of their own kind. Conservation efforts like these have helped bring the whooping crane back from the brink of extinction. In the 1940s there were only 16 cranes left; that number is now over 800, most of them in the wild.

6 Robot Scarecrow Fish

Not every fish control project requires kidnapping invasive species in a vacuum robot. Sometimes all you need to do is spook them a little. This was the idea behind a silicone robot built by researchers at NYU to resemble and act like a large-mouthed bass. Its target is mosquitofish, a small species that was introduced into many freshwater environments to control mosquito populations but has now become an ecological threat.

Initial trials of this scarecrow bass showed it was capable of inducing stress in mosquitofish populations and even causing them to lose weight. Stress and weight loss lowers their chances of reproduction, which would help bring the population under control. The goal is to reduce mosquitofish populations without having to kill them, both due to humane concerns and because the species is so widespread it would be difficult to kill them in large quantities without affecting the broader ecosystem. The robot bass is still in prototype stages, but future iterations could be released into the wild to swim around spooking every mosquitofish they see.

5 Transcontinental Muskox Train

This one is a throwback from the early days of American wildlife conservation. Muskoxen were prevalent in parts of Alaska until the end of the 19th century, when a combination of over-hunting and climate conditions wiped out the last Alaskan herds. Something about that didn’t sit right with America’s legislators, because in the 1930s the U.S. Congress allocated funds for a reintroduction of muskoxen to Alaska. Thanks to this effort, today the state’s muskox population is over five thousand.

Here’s how they pulled that off: first, a group of Norwegian sailors captured 34 muskoxen from Greenland and hauled them back to Norway, where they boarded a steamship bound for New York City. There they spent a month in quarantine, safe but unable to enjoy any of the glitz and glamor of the Big Apple. The herd then boarded a train bound for Seattle and another steamship from there to Seward, Alaska. They took yet another train to Fairbanks, Alaska, where they received a five-year break before boarding another steamship that took them to Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea (and nearly sank along the way.) Remember that muskoxen are covered in two layers of shaggy wool designed to withstand Arctic winters, and now imagine how uncomfortable that 8,000-mile journey must have been. Still, most of the original herd survived and the population on Nunivak is now around 600. It also seeded several other herds on mainland Alaska which are thriving to this day.

4 Electroejaculation

Artificial insemination is common in agriculture and conservation, but some species don’t take too kindly to…let’s say, manual harvesting. Horses and some friendlier bulls can be persuaded to give up samples the old-fashioned way in a pinch, but what about when you need seed from something a little more aggressive, like a lion or a tiger? One of the solutions is electroejaculation, which is most used on livestock whose owners don’t feel like getting too up close and personal. Methods vary, but the basics involve inserting a rectal probe that oscillates between zero and maximum voltage, stimulating muscle contractions to induce ejaculation. Prototypes developed on domestic cats with plastic tubes and copper wires have been reformatted for bigger animals like Amur leopards and Siberian tigers. A recent success story from the Singapore Zoo produced a lion cub named Simba from electroejaculation of a geriatric lion whose name you should be able to guess. Simba was 20-year-old Mufasa’s first cub, and unfortunately also his last, as he did not survive the shocking procedure. Still a better way to go than getting trampled by wildebeests.

3 Bird Ejaculation Helmet

Sirocco the kakapo is a bird from New Zealand who likes people a little too much. The flightless nocturnal parrot comes from a species that almost went extinct but is coming back due to breeding efforts. Unfortunately for Sirocco, he grew up around humans and imprinted on his caretakers, causing him to have very little interest in mating with his own kind. He has tried to mate with humans, though, most notably in a 2009 viral video where he mounts zoologist Mark Cawardine and valiantly tries to make babies with the scientist’s skull.

His affection for human heads caused scientists to invent Sirocco an “ejaculation helmet,” a piece of rubber headwear covered in little dimples to collect semen. The problem is that kākāpō are long-winded lovers, often taking almost an hour to finish. No one quite had the stamina to let Sirocco spoon their skulls for that long, so the bird remained celibate. Despite the failure of the ejaculation helmet itself, the wacky story of Sirocco has brought global attention to the plight of his species, so we’re counting it as a conservation win anyway. The celebrity bird is now in his twenties and lives alone on an island, occasionally accepting visits from the heads of lovers past. The helmet is on display at the national Museum in Wellington.

2 Poison Toad Sausage

Cane toads are one of the most notorious invasive species in the world. Videos of motorists running over the venomous amphibians have brought attention to just how despised this species is in Australia. One of the biggest concerns is their effect on animals like the quoll, a small marsupial that preys on the cane toad but can be killed by the poison in its glands. Apparently cane toads are just too tasty to pass up, so scientists have developed a way to put quolls off the taste of toad meat. First, live toads are frozen to death, skinned, and ground into sausage, a process that is notoriously stinky. Then, the sausage-maker adds a chemical called Thibenzole that causes nausea in animals. Finally, the tainted toad sausages are dropped into quoll country by helicopter.Though initial results after the first drop in 2018 were questionable, the sausage strategy does seem to be making quolls turn away from cane toads.

1 Beaver Skydiving

After World War II, people started moving into the area of Payette Lake, Idaho, where local beavers had been squatting for centuries without a Mini-Mart in sight. After a while, the beavers started fighting back against human settlement and causing real damage to irrigation systems and orchards. It’s no shock that the people weren’t interested in moving away, so they had to figure out a way to move the beavers away. The mountainous terrain of Idaho made relocation by horse and truck costly and dangerous for the beavers, who cannot stand long periods of heat outside of water.

The solution came in the form of military planes and surplus parachutes. Through a series of trials, wildlife managers developed a box that was sturdy enough to hold a beaver and gently opened when it touched the ground. The first tests were done on an old beaver named Geronimo, who was dropped from a plane in a beaver box with a parachute over and over until the scientists were certain it was safe. Don’t feel bad for old Geronimo, though. He got priority registration on the first flight to the new territory, along with a harem of three females to keep him company. Seventy-six beavers in total were safely transplanted into the Idaho wilderness, with only one casualty whose box opened early and fell out.