Travel Notes of Dalian Natural Museum: No progress is retrogression.

The natural museum is the most attractive place in my eyes. I am fascinated by animal and plant specimens, fossils and various minerals. Because of my work and interest, I will go to more and more natural museums, and then write my own experiences and feelings into Travel Notes of the Miniature Dragon Natural Museum to share with you.

Dalian Natural Museum has a very special place in my heart, because it is the first natural museum I visited, even though I am only seven years old. I came to Dalian this time because I attended the opening ceremony of The Legend of the Giant Whale, and I plan to visit Dalian Natural Museum again soon.

Three-year-old Chinese swordfish and myself.

Because of the epidemic situation, it is necessary to make an appointment in advance to visit the museum, so I made an appointment for the number of visitors from 9 am to 12 am on Sunday, with a quota of 100. Dalian Museum of Natural History is located in the Black Rock Reef scenic spot in the city, with convenient transportation and quick access by public transportation.

I arrived at the museum almost stuck, only about ten minutes early, so I didn't visit the surrounding scenic spots, but I still walked around the Black Rock Reef Scenic Area, which happened to be a black reef leaked out at low tide. Many people catch crabs among the rocks in the intertidal zone, and you can see the cross-sea bridge not far away. It can be said that the location of Dalian Natural Museum is very good.

Heishijiao scenic spot

An old couple waiting for the museum to open.

At 9: 00 sharp, after showing my certificate, health code and citizen code, I walked into Dalian Natural Museum again after more than 20 years. Dalian Natural History Museum has four floors, three floors above ground, and the underground forest of steles is not open to the public due to renovation. But it is not a pity to think that almost all the animal specimens of Bailey are in the National Museum of Natural History.

As soon as I entered the gate, I was attracted by the African elephant specimen in the center of the hall. Although I have seen African elephant specimens in many natural museums, this specimen left a deep impression on me, not only because of its huge size, but also because of its perfect presentation of details. Walking into the observation, we can see that the elephant's eyelashes and sparse body hair are all displayed, and the whole body skin of the specimen has been naturally treated without deformation and cracking. This African elephant specimen is also an exhibit donated by kenneth behring. It is an adult male (50 to 60 years old) from South Africa, with a body length of 5 meters, a shoulder height of 3 meters and a weight of 6 tons. It is the largest animal on land today.

Very beautiful African elephant specimens in the hall

Architectural model of Dalian Natural Museum in the corner

There are Earth Exhibition Hall and Dinosaur Exhibition Hall on the first floor of Dalian Natural Museum. The earth exhibition hall is very small, and the contents and specimens are limited, so I won't introduce it in detail. Let's talk about the dinosaur exhibition hall. The full name of this exhibition hall is "Ancient Life: Mesozoic Paleontological Fossil Exhibition". The first thing that comes to mind must be dinosaur fossils. Although it is a newly renovated exhibition hall, the collection in the dinosaur exhibition hall is not rich, and the display design is nothing new. In fact, there are still some bright spots, that is, several skeletons, including the skeleton of Shuangmiaolong. As a primitive hadrosaur discovered in Liaoning, Shuangmiaolong is a "large" dinosaur. Its skeleton adopts the latest four-legged posture, which is much better than the old posture of standing on two feet and mopping the floor with its tail still used in many museums. Another highlight of this double-temple dragon is that the skeleton contains the original, that is, the true fossil, and it can be identified, so if you go to Dalian Natural Museum, you must not miss this fossil and test whether you can distinguish all the true fossils.

Shuangmiaolong skeleton

The middle hall on the second floor of Dalian Museum of Natural History contains huge whale specimens and bones, including fin whales, right whales and sperm whales. It's really shocking to walk inside, but because it's an old specimen with a long history, the preservation conditions are already very poor, not to mention peeling and cracking, and its shape remains to be discussed. Another problem with cetacean specimens and bones is the lack of illumination. It's a pity that the audience chatted with the museum staff to create the deep blue of the ocean and couldn't see these huge animals clearly.

Cetacean specimens and bones are in the middle hall on the second floor.

Whale exhibition in Dalian Natural History Museum 30 years ago

There are three exhibition halls in the four corners of the second floor, which are cartilage fish hall, bony fish hall and marine invertebrates exhibition hall. These three exhibition halls give people the impression that the exhibits are outdated, the display design is outdated, and the fish specimens are still soaked in jars or ugly specimens. The audience can't see the smart posture of these fish when they are alive, just mummified or wet.

Yellow croaker soaked in antiseptic solution with head missing.

The exhibition hall on the third floor is the legend of forest animals, wetlands and ancient beasts in Northeast China. The northeast forest animal exhibition hall has created a forest habitat and displayed the wild animals in the northeast forest. However, the arrangement of these animal specimens is more like waiting in line for inspection, without reference to niche, habits, interaction and other factors. Compared with the northeast forest animal exhibition hall, the wetland exhibition hall displays birds, which is much better in habitat restoration, specimen making and layout. What needs to be mentioned here is that there are many bird specimens displayed separately between the northeast forest animal exhibition hall and the wetland exhibition hall, among which the production level of raptors is still relatively high.

Northeast forest animal exhibition hall, the environment can be created.

Raptor specimen exhibition area

White-tailed seahawk specimen

Carved owl specimen

Legend of Ancient Beasts is a special exhibition, and its content must be the fossils of ancient mammals. In fact, Dalian and Liaoning Province are rich in ancient animal fossils, so it is difficult to understand why there are many ancient animal fossils from Gansu in the exhibition.

Specimen of saber-toothed tiger in Gansu Province

After more than 20 years, I was full of expectations for Dalian Natural History Museum, but my expectations eventually turned into disappointment. It only took me two hours to make an appointment for three hours.

Let's talk about the problem. As a historical museum, the exhibits and exhibitions of Dalian Natural Museum are too old to show the original appearance of animals and plants. Take fin whale specimens as an example. It's still the same as I've ever seen, and its head and body are obviously deformed. Fin whales are really not like this. It is even more difficult to express biodiversity, ecosystem and food chain.

Whale specimens are very characteristic, but they are not representative.

Dalian Museum of Natural History knows that its own characteristics are marine animals and local animals, so it should spend more time to enrich and improve the ideas and contents of these exhibition units and highlight its own characteristics and advantages.

For the Dalian Museum of Natural History, perhaps it should not be so harsh. After all, it doesn't receive enough funds every year, and it won't happen overnight to change it. It is not easy for a non-provincial capital city to have its own natural museum. For lovers who love nature and want to know about it, it should have become a treasure house of natural knowledge.

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