Stripped of its skin, and showing every bone and sinew, this gory display of an elephant is part of the latest exhibition from the infamous Dr Gunther von Hagens. Body Worlds: Animal Inside Out, in which animal carcasses are preserved and displayed, opens today at Ambassador Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Created by plastinator Dr von Hagens and curator Dr. Angelina Whalley, the exhibition offers visitors an 'anatomical safari' past nearly one hundred anatomically dissected animals. Scroll down for video . Samba the elephant, which at 3.2 tons and 6metres by 3.5 metres in size is the largest animal ever plastinated, is on display at the Body Worlds: Animal Inside Out exhibition . Some  have been given the full-body plastinate process, while a series of 'single specimens' offer preserved organs or even slices of animal. The graphic exhibition features Samba the elephant which, at 3.2 tons and a size of 6 by 3.5 metres, is the largest whole animal ever plastinated. Samba is joined by a gorilla packing 120 kilograms of muscle, watched on by its human close relative, as well as a giraffe, bear, shark and many more. 'It is fascinating to see the anatomical similarities of the vertebrates on the one hand, and how many different anatomical variations have formed on the other hand in response to an animal's living conditions—such as the elephant's trunk or the giraffe's long neck,' says the curator Dr. Angelina Whalley on the exhibition website. Step 1. Embalming and Anatomical Dissection He halts decay by pumping formalin into the body through the arteries. Using dissection tools, the skin, fatty and connective tissues are removed in order to prepare the individual anatomical structures. Steep 2. Removal of Body Fat and Water The body water and soluble fats are dissolved from the body by placing it into an acetone bath. Step 3. Forced Impregnation A reactive polymer - silicone rubber -  replaces the acetone. The specimen is immersed in a polymer solution and placed in vacuum chamber. The vacuum removes the acetone from the specimen and helps the polymer to penetrate every last cell. Step 4. Positioning After vacuum impregnation, the body is positioned as desired. Every single anatomical structure is properly aligned and fixed with the help of wires, needles, clamps, and foam blocks. Step 5. Curing (Hardening) The specimen is hardened with gas, light, or heat. Dissection and Plastination of an entire body requires about 1,500 working hours and normally takes about one year to complete . It aims to illustrate the complexity of the animals' insides, and how different animals have adapted both their anatomy and their organ function to their natural habitats. The exhibition uses plastination, a technique developed by German anatomist Dr von Hagens in 1977 for preserving biological tissue specimen. The process is used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts, by replacing water and fat with certain plastics, to create specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay. Plastination was originally used to preserve small specimens for medical study. It was only in the early 1990s that techniques were developed to plastinate whole body specimens. Each could take up to 1,500 person-hours to prepare. Plastination is now used at more than 40 medical and dental schools throughout the world as an adjunct to anatomical dissection. Von Hagens went on to form the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany in 1993 which made their first showing of plastinated bodies in Japan in 1995, which drew more than three million visitors. Over the next two years, Von Hagens developed the Body Worlds public exhibitions, showing whole bodies, donated by willing donors, plastinated in lifelike poses and dissected to show various structures and systems of human anatomy. More than 10,000 people have agreed to donate their bodies to Institute for Plastination. Past exhibitions have included a display in Barcelona, Spain which was mainly composed of plastinated Asian body parts and embryos. His most complex work so far is said to be the giraffe which appeared in 'Body Worlds 3 & The Story of the Heart'. The specimen took three years to complete – 10 times longer than a human. The current exhibition, which is at Ambassador Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, was was made possible through cooperation with various veterinary programs and zoos with no animals harmed or killed for use. Student Kifah Ajamia looks at a horse's head, as nearly 100 anatomically dissected animals go on display at the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin . An intricate display shows a chicken's blood vessels and veins which have been preserved using a technique called plastination . But many of Dr von Hagens' exhibitions- dubbed Dr Tod (Dr Death) in Germany - have drawn criticism from religious groups. Members of the Catholic Church said that his displays of human remains is disrespectful. But that hasn't stopped museums and venues in cities across the world hosting Body Worlds, which has attracted more than 29 million visitors. The professor has continually courted controversy throughout his career and in 2005 in a four-part series on Channel 4 called Anatomy for Beginners, he dissected cadavers on live TV. He followed up in 2006 with Autopsy: Life and Death. His laboratory later angered German Christians when it began to offer body parts for sale online, including plastinated 'slices' of corpses including a human head. In 2011, he announced he was dying of Parkinson's disease and has said he wants his own body displayed in the same manner as his specimens when his time comes. Dr Gunther von Hagens at the opening of his plastinarium in Guben, Germany . Born in Poland in 1945, von Hagens was diagnosed with a rare bleeding disorder and almost died aged six. Aged 20, he entered the University of Jena medical school where he began to oppose the Communist system under which he lived. Attempting to flee to Austrian in 1969, he was imprisoned for two years. Aged 26, his freedom was bought by West Germany where he completed his medical studies and entered the field of pathology. In 1975, he began to experiment with the preservation of body parts using reactive polymers. He said: 'I wondered why the . plastic was poured and then cured around the specimens rather than . pushed into the cells, which would stabilise the specimens from within . and literally allow you to grasp it.' By 1982, von Hagens patented the plastination technique which has been adopted in laboratories across the world. In 1995, he premiered Body Worlds in Japan and the show has been seen by more than 28million people since, despite fierce opposition in some quarters. Between 2005- 2006 he dissected cadavers live on television . A human body is on display next to a 120kg gorilla at the exhibition which offers visitors an 'anatomical safari' past nearly one hundred anatomically dissected animals . Some animals, such as this shark, have been given the full-body plastinate process, while a series of 'single specimens' offer preserved organs or even slices of animal . The display aims to illustrate the complexity of the animals' insides, and how different animals have adapted both their anatomy and their organ function to their natural habitats . The exhibition uses plastination, a technique developed by German anatomist Dr von Hagens in 1977 for preserving biological tissue specimen .
The latest exhibition from Dr Gunther von Hagens- Body Worlds: Animal Inside Out- is on display in Dublin today . It offers a graphic 'anatomical safari' for visitors who can see nearly one hundred anatomically dissected animals . Exhibition includes an elephant which at 3.2 tons and 6metres by 3.5 metres is the largest animal ever plastinated .