Finnish soldiers displaying the skins of the Soviet soldiers who were allegedly eaten by their own troops at Maaselkä in 1942.

Michelangelo's The Last Judgment. Saint Bartholomew is shown holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin.

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Skinning, a gerund from the verb to skin, commonly refers to the act of skin removal. Skinning is often done with a hunting knife.

The extremely painful process is usually done with animals, mainly as preparation for consumption of the meat beneath and/or use for the fur. The skin can also be used as a trophy or a simple proof of the kill to collect a premium from health, agricultural, or other authorities, in the case of a species that has been declared a pest.

Skinning can also be performed on live humans as a form of corporal punishment, known as flaying. As the removal of all (or most) of a person's skin is terminal, as well as extremely painful, this is a brutal method of capital punishment.

[edit] See also

• Scalping