Museum Permanent Exhibitions


"History of Darwin Museum" Ground Floor

The 1st part of exhibited museum's collections tells about fascinating, dramatic and, at the same time, happy history of the State Darwin Museum creation and development.

"Biological Diversity" Ground Floor

Here are the "microfragments" of the Earth's greatest ecosystems - savanna, tropical forests, mountains, sea, and sea coasts. In the center of the gallery are presented life-size recontructions of some extinct animals.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity - the amazing richness and variety of wildlife and habitats on Earth, as a result of adaptation to the environment - excites even an experienced explorer's imagination. Why they are so different? What is the origin of biodiversity? These questions are being asked throughout the history of natural sciences.

Living organisms can be found everywhere - from hot springs inside the craters of underwater volcanoes to the glacial mountain peaks.

This exhibition is the tale upon the various biotopes - ocean, tropical rain forests, savannah, seashores and mountains.

It has long been believed that life in marine communities can only be found just off the coast, but recently the extraordinarily rich ecosystems, using subsoil resources instead of the solar energy, have been discovered around submarine volcanoes at a depth of 2500 meters.

Tropical rain forests are the most biodiversity-rich ecosystems on Earth. Four fifths of all scientifically described plants and at least half of all terrestrial animals species (of more than 1 500 000 species) are concentrated there.

In savannah and on the seashores life in not so abundant, but there are some peculiarities too. The fauna of savannah is characterized by numerous species of big herbivorous mammals, and seashores are rich in bird colonies and seal rookeries.

In mountains the variability of abiotic factors allows to different living communities to co-exist in the relatively small area. Some of them are typical for grasslands, lying aside of mountains, others are endemic.

All the living inhabitants of Earth - are the result of long evolution. The development of the organic world was characterized by emerging and extinction of species.

The exhibition located in the central area of the hall tales upon the vestiges of the past biospheres. All the reconstructions of extinct animals are life-sized.

But there are some species, so-called living fossils. Their ancestors appeared millions of years ago. Now they belong to various living communities.

Life appeared on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago. The global sum of all ecosystems on Earth is the biosphere, its structure and development are determined by the joint activity of all living organisms on Earth.

"The Stages of Nature Cognition" 1st Floor

"The Stages of Nature Cognition" illustrates a complicated way of Man's cognition of Natural laws. This gallery is unique in a sense that no other museum in the world has an entire gallery devoted to the history of development of scientific thought.

"Microevolution" 1st Floor

"Microevolution" tells about basic principles of evolution, a process of formation of new species, and explains why animals and plants are so well adapted to their natural environments and mutual coexistence.

"Zoogeography" 2-nd Floor

"Zoogeography" shows a variety of animals from different parts of the Earth, and explains the ways by which the fauna of our planet was formed.

"Macroevolution" 2-nd Floor

"Macroevolution" is devoted to the origin and development of life on the Earth from a molecule up to Man. You will learn who inhabited landscapes of distant geological epochs, who the deep ancestor of Man looked like, and how his evolution, as well as his relationship to Nature, has been developing at different times.

Here you will also discover ethology - a science about animal behaviour.