Animal World

In the largest, historic, hall over 1500 exhibits have been displayed. This exhibition, illustrating the diversity of the animal world, is intended for all visitors, its purpose being both education and drawing attention to the beauty of nature.

The display follows the systematic order. The most abundant are birds, shells of molluscs, and insects. Among the exhibits there are 448 bird species, representing 137 families, i.e. most of those which occur on Earth, starting from huge ostriches to the smallest representatives of this group of animals, namely humming-birds.

The avifauna presented here includes real rarities: 5 extinct species, i.e. the Great Auk Alca impennis, Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius, Carolina Parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis, Javan Wattled Lapwing Vanellus macropterus and Huia Heteralocha acutirostris. Also, a species which has almost got extinct in freedom - Spix's Macaw Cyanopsitta spixii. As examples of more exotic bird fauna, the Common Kiwi Apteryx australis, penguins and the birds of paradise can be mentioned.

The exhibition presents 66 species of mammals representing 17 orders. The most interesting are: the extinct predacious egg-layer - Marsupial Wolf Thylacinus cynocephalus and representatives of Monotremata: the Duck-billed Platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus and Spiny Anteater Tachyglossus aculeatus. Primates are represented by 17 species, starting from the tiny Diademed Sifaka Propithecus diadema, through the Ring-tailed Lemur Lemur catta to the large Orang-utan Pongo pygmaeus. Other interesting mammals include the Indian Flying Fox Pteropus giganteus, Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga jubata, Sloth Bear Melorsus ursinus, Lesser Panda Ailurus fulgens and Black Rhinoceros Diceros bicornis.

Of the molluscan exhibits, the following are particularly worth seeing: Tridacna gigas - the largest mollusc of the globe, pear mussels (the order Pictada), a shell of a nautilus Nautilus, which is one of the few contemporary shelled cephalopods, a female of an argonaut species (Argonauta) with a "shell" which is not homologous to the shell of other molluscs, and beautiful miscellaneous shells, searched for by collectors, of such sea snails as cypraeids (the order Cypraea), muricids (the genus Murex) and cone-shells (the genus Conus).

Among the insects on display, particularly abundant are beetles and butterflies, represented by numerous colour exotic specimens.