Dog-sheep is Academy's star

The controversial offering will dismay devotees of the exhibition, seen by many as the last bastion of traditional art.

The sheep's head attached to the body of a St Bernard dog by artist Thomas Grunfeld - on sale for £18,000 - is just one of a number of unusual pieces, including a water-filled dustbin with a mound of sand in its lid.

Other works include a pair of giant stuffed jaguars by Belgian artist Pascal Bernier and a series of provocative female figures in glass fibre by pop artist Allen Jones. In one, a woman's stomach opens up as a refrigerated drinks cabinet.

Video art has also been accepted for the first time. In one piece, by artist Georg Herold, three miniature screens show someone's finger and thumb repeatedly rubbing together.

The outr? artworks reopen the debate about the artistic merit of the 234-year-old Summer Exhibition, famous for its inclusion of twee watercolours by less well known painters.

While some praised the Academy's attempt to become more professional and contemporary, others are angered by the move away from traditional art. One Royal Academician said: "It's so absurd. The whole history of art has been forgotten."

The Summer Exhibition is the largest open show of contemporary art in the world, featuring more than 1,000 works by both professional and amateur artists.

This year the show has attracted work by younger artists such as Rachel Whiteread, Gavin Turk and Marc Quinn.

Gary Hume, 40, who last year became one of the youngest British artists to be elected to the Royal Academy, chose an eclectic mix of European artists in the gallery he was given to curate.

Ken Howard, the Royal Academician in charge of the galleries, said: "I tend to be a traditional. When I was first elected, there was only one room of non-figurative work. Now there's only one figurative room. Obviously I'd love five rooms of figurative work.

"Although we're looking at new audiences, we've got to keep the core audience. The academy still has 80,000 Friends. The largest proportion are still interested in painting and sculpture." The use of stuffed animals has been condemned by animal rights groups.

Robin Mays, of the Campaign Against Leather And Fur - who staged a protest against Damien Hirst's pickled cows at the Tate - said he would arrange another protest. He said: "These are beautiful creatures. Then humans come along and try to make it a perverse image, to make them ugly. It's a corruption of beauty."

An Academy spokeswoman defended the inclusion of the dog-sheep as a comment on cloning. She said labels would make it clear that all the animals used had died of natural causes, "should there be any concern".