Zoological museum of Zurich

Mammoth and more.

There’s a little pearl of a museum in the city of Zurich. It only has two floors and the entrance is for free (yay). I’m talking about the zoological museum of Zurich which belongs to the University there. From fossils to skeletons over insects and snails you can explore a lot of animals. Over 1500 stuffed animals are in that museum and a lot of them were very old and unique. Please read more under the cut.

I have to apologise, because a few photos turned out blurry. It was too dark for my camera and I didn’t want to use flash, because that’s not good for the exhibits. And almost all exhibits were behind glass.
Let’s start with the primeval exhibits. There are a few casts of dinosaur skulls, but also real fossils of water dinosaurs (some found in Switzerland) and other lizards. Skulls and bones of primeval mammals are there, too.

Mesosaur.

Aurochs.

Brontotherium.

Hoplophoneus primaevus, a saber-toothed cat.

Megatherium.

Aside from a special show, a little cinema and the fossils, the first floor was about the native animals in Switzerland (and some of Europe). I never expected so many different snails in Switzerland! And birds! So many birds, assorted by their habitat. It was amazing.

Tits.

Hedgehogs.

Skeleton of a greater mouse-eared bat.

The second floor was about the exotic animals. The reason why some mounts look a bit scruffy is because they are old. The mount of the berber lion and the tasmanian wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus) are each over one hundred years old and both animals were extinct as well.

Berber lion and a leopard.

Tasmanian wolf.

Kiwi birds.

Panda bear with cub.

Awwww, a maned wolf baby!

Skeleton of a platypus.

Tiger.

Clouded leopard.

A very huge polar bear! More than two meters high.

A megatherium, a giant sloth, placed nearby the animals of South America.

And a big lifelike model of megatherium was in the first floor. It looks quite happy.

Aficionados of birds will get their kick on the second floor. There were a lot of strange birds I have never seen in another museum before.

Papua hornbill.

Lovely cotinga.

I forgot the name of this strange guy, sorry. Nice hairdo ;)

Meet the “unicorn bird” with the official name “white bell bird” (Procnias alba). That bird freaked me out!

And say hi to the kung fu master Procnias tricarunculata (no English name found).

I hope you enjoyed this entry. If you are interested in that museum you may want to read more about it here. A visit is totally worth it.