Up close with creatures great and small
Two visitors take a close look at a stuffed antelope in the Beijing Museum of Natural History. File photo |
Based upon more than 100 precious animal specimens, the exhibition vividly reconstructs the living environment of the wild creatures.
The exhibition is divided into three themed areas: African wild field, deep North American forest and northern icy world of Eurasia.
Walking into the African exhibition hall, you can hear the thunder and see the African plains in the darkness: a lion biting the corpse of a dead antelope; a giraffe lowering its head to drink water beside the river; a leopard and a male baboon staring at each other while the female baboon and their children watch in panic nor far away.
"Displaying the wild animals specimen in mimicking environments could make the visitors get a better feeling of the aboriginality of wild life," said Li Chengsen, director of Beijing Museum of Natural History.
Behring, founder of the Wheelchair Foundation, often went deep into the wild Africa and developed a particular love for nature and animals, which inspired him to collect animal specimens around the world and seek good museums to display them.
The visit to Beijing two years ago made him decide to donate his specimens to a Beijing museum to help Chinese young people discover these animals without necessarily going abroad.
He announced his intention to donate more specimens to the Beijing Museum of Natural History on the opening day of the exhibition. These donations have become permanent exhibits of the museum and will be on display all year round.
China Daily
(China Daily 04/11/2007 page19)
