Yesterday I visited the Galeries d'Anatomie Comparee et de Paleontologie, one of the collection of museums at the Jardin des Plantes. It was a bit crowded, because many kids had Friday off from school as well as Thursday (Thursday being May Day/Fete de Travail/Fete de Muguet). (In France this practice is called "faire le pont", or to make the bridge, i.e. to take an additional day off when a holiday falls on Tuesday or Thursday-- a fine tradition, although tourists may complain about some things being closed.) In any case, it wasn't too bad.
This collection of skeletons, other body parts, and fossils dates back to 1898. There are more than a thousand skeletons, from nearly every (living) vertebrate you can think of, as well as some extinct ones.
The place is wild. The skeletons are arranged all facing the same direction, so they appear to be on the march!
The slinky-like structures are python skeletons, and that below is part of an alligator skeleton.
It's a whale!
Vertebrae-o-plenty (all from whales and/or other cetaceans):
Update: Here is a later photo of my sisters with the baleen whale. Good times!
(Interestingly, the French word for whale is "baleine", even though not all whales have baleen.)
There is a mezzanine level which provides overhead views. Here is the cetacean exhibit from above:
The staircase itself is notable -- as is the entire building, as you can tell from the above photos.
Further ascent leads to the fossil gallery. At first I thought, ho hum, maybe a bunch of trilobites-- but no.
Scary!!
I was pleased to see the Irish Elk. One of my favorite early black and white photos, which I took back when I was doing my own developing and printing, is of an Irish Elk antler at the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian.
The notes here suggested that the Irish Elk's enormous antlers, though stunning, may have had something to do with its extinction -- just a bit impractical. Kind of sad.
Is this a real brontosaurus skeleton, I immediately thought? In the notes, and the other research I've done so far, nothing indicates otherwise. My word. [Update: I looked more closely when I returned with my sisters, and the notes indicate that this is a replica of a skeleton in the Carnegie Museum in the US. By the way, the correct name is apatosaurus, not brontosaurus.]
(This proves my theory about the brontosaurus. And it's mine. -- Miss Anne Elk)
(for Monty Python fans only)
The overhead shot of the brontosaurus was taken from another mezzanine level (can you have two mezzanines?). The walls are lined with cases of fossil specimens. The drawers shown below are all hand-labeled (as are most of the specimens in the museum), so I assume they are all filled with specimens also, though they did not open.
I mentioned other parts, and these included internal organs (or sometimes entire individuals) in jars. I found most of these interesting but less aesthetically appealing-- though the display of the simple wolf's stomach, next to its jaw showing its tearing teeth, and the four-chambered sheep's stomach, next to its jaw showing its grinding teeth, was thoughtfully done.
OK, here is the sheep's stomach, nicely labeled. You can all think about haggis now.
But for aesthetic appeal, there were some nice specimens among the plant fossils:
I'm glad people are enjoying this blog, and I enjoy getting your comments! Thanks!
A plus,
LeeAnn
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