National Museum of Natural History

Located in midst of the elite institutions of the city, this museum can be easily recognized by a large dinosaur statue in front of its gates. The museum displays a mind-boggling number of fossils, stuffed animals and birds. Film shows, lectures about plant and animals: this place organizes it all. Children can partake in activities organized in the well-equipped discovery room.

The NMNH owes its genesis to the Late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi, who while considering new projects to be initiated in 1972 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of India’s Independence, decided that the country needs a museum of Natural History to depict its flora, fauna and mineral wealth to provide an out of school facility for education of children and to promote environmental awareness among the masses. The NMNH opened its doors to the public in a rented building on Barakhamba Road on 5th June 1978,coinciding symbolically with the World Environment Day.

From the initial Gallery 1,the NMNH has grown substantially during the last 30 years, by the addition of three more Galleries, a Discovery,an Activity Room,conducted a variety of educational programmes and brought out a large number of popular literature. In addition the Museum established and operationalised three Regional offices at Mysore, Bhopal and Bhubneshwer.A fourth Regional Office has been established recently and will be operational soon,a fifth Regional Office is being planned at Gangtok.

Exhibit Galleries Educational Activities> Film Shows Summer Programme Publications

Discovery & Activity Rooms Conducted Tours Temporary Exhibitions Programme for persons with disabilities Teacher Orientation Programme

Exhibit Galleries

The NMNH has four exhibit galleries, namely: “Introduction of Natural History”, “Nature’s Network:Ecology”,”Conservation” and “Cell:The Basic Unit of Life”. The Gallery 1 (introduction to Natural History) portrays the origin and evolution of life and presents the variety and diversity of the flora and fauna of our country. The presentation follows a section on evolutionary sequences and evidences to establish how the present day life evolved. Another section depicts the plants and animals in their natural habitat followed by pollination in flowers, plants and their uses, harmful and beneficial insects, camouflage, adaptation of terrestrial, aquatic and aerial life in animals, endangered animals etc. These sections not only provide useful information to the visitors but also serve as valuable resources in supplementing the classroom teaching.

Gallery 2 (Nature’s Network:Ecology) presents an overview of major ecosystems of the world, role of plants as primary producers, food chains, food webs, decomposition, bio-geochemical cycles, Interrelationship among plants, animals and human beings, present day environmental problems such as pollution, deforestation, depletion of wildlife etc. and the reasons (ethical, aesthetic, economic and scientific) for conservation.

Gallery 3 (conservation) deals with many aspect of conservation of nature. A dramatic life size diorama of a typical eciduous forests presents two contrasting views (one with a rich, balanced forest ecosystem and the other of denuded, deforested and barren terrain). That deforestation is the thoughtless exploitation of trees by human being is presented symbolically through an oversized model of human hand ruthlessly uprooting a tree. Exhibits that follow give a didactic view of the importance of trees in conserving soil. Conversely deforestation leads to soil erosion, siltation of riverbeds and formation of wastelands. Other exhibits in the section show how valuable the tropical rain forests are for mankind. These forests are the rich repository of genetic and biological diversity, Subsequent sections of the Gallery deals with depletion of wildlife, endangered species as well as conservation projects. The problem of pollution and increasing pressure of human population on internal resources are some of the other themes presented through exhibits. Two exhibits that stand out are the contribution of the Bishnoi community and Chipko Andolan.

Gallery 4 (Cell: The Basic Unit of Life), highlights cell as the structural and functional unit of life. The Gallery begins with the historical background of cell concept and converges upon various aspects of the cell. A large exhibit depicts the differences between plant and animal cells, followed by an exhibit highlighting structure and funtion of various cell organelles working inside the cells. The gallery also deals with organisation of the cells inside the tissues, cell diversity and specialization, defence mechanisms and cell as the basis of genetic diversity.

Discovery & Activity Rooms

Discovery and Activity Rooms are two resource facility centerss meant for children of higher and lower ages respectively.principles of discovery learning theory are generally used where learning is through activities and enjoyable.children are free to choose one or several of the activities provided. Opportunities are provided for children to handle and examine specimens,participate in creative activities such as modeling and painting and exploration of discovery boxes.

Children to sensitized to explore nature, develop creative talent and to bring in them a sense of inquiry and scientific outlook.There are a of games,touch exhibits,live animals to play with or observe and a number of participatory exhibits. Children can develop animals, stories with the help of cutouts and a Magneto Board, piece together jigsaw puzzles, measure their weight and height and also check their eyesight.

Educational Activities

The NMNH organises a large number of educational activities throught the year. These may be classified as interpretation,extension,inreach, and out-reach programmes.interpretation programmes are services provided in the Museum Galleries.Extension programmes includes services provided outside the Museum to schools who have been to the Museum earlier.Out-reach programmes include special services provided to those who cannot to the Museum. In-reach programmes are special services provided inside the Museum to those who generally do not visit the Museum.

Conducted Tours

Visitors to the NMNH are generally provided with guided tours of the galleries by trained Educational Assistants on request.

Film Shows

The museum has an extensive collection of films on wildlife, ecology, conservation and the environment in general. Films are screened every day for the visitors at 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM at the Museum Auditorium in third floor.

Temporary Exhibitions

Temporary exhibitions themes relevant to nature and environmental education are organised by the Museum from time to time.However,on account of lack of space on the Ground Floor, where it used to be arranged,this facility is temporarily stopped.

In addition,the Museum arranges temporary exhibitions outside the Museum also.Such exhibitions have been arranged in the past as part of Festival of India held in USA,USSR and Japan,on behalf of the Ministry of Environment & Forests.

School loan kits

Under its Extension programme, the museum has a school service programme in the form of small, portable exhibit boxes dealing with selected topics from the biology curriculum. These are provided to schools on request to enrich classroom teaching.

Summer Programme

A month long summer programme for teenagers is organised by the Museum every year. The objective is to make youth aware of environmental issues and the way they can contribute to conservation efforts. The programme consists of museum studies, discussion sessions, outdoor nature explorations, observation and analysis of pollution problem in the urban environment, individual project assignments and exposure to the ecosystem in a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary in India.

For young children also a month long programme is organised every year during summer vacations in which they are made to participate in nature study and creative activity in the form of painting and modelling. The objective of this programme is to encourage children to observe nature and translate those observations through the creative medium of painting and modelling resources and expertise available with the NMNH.

Programme For Persons with Disabilities

Realizing the importance if public service,the NMNH is the Museum in India to undertake programmes for persons with disabilities in 1978 itself. Since then the NMNH has been arranging regular programmes for all categories of Persons with Disabilities.This includes a’Touch, Feel and Learn’ programme for children with the use of objects, audio-aids and Braille materials. Special guided tours and workbook activities are conducted for children with speech/hearing impairments. In addition the Museum organizes specialized weeklong programmes for the benefit of children with Disabilities.

On a professional level,the NMNH along with its regional offices is in the forefront of fighting for the cause of Access to Museum resources to all including Persons with disabilities by arranging conferences,seminars, workshops,sensitisation programmes,etc of all stakeholders in the field of Museum Access Studies.

Teacher Orientation Workshop

One of the primary target audiences of the NMNH is schoolteacher for whom it organizes regular training workshops. This programme is generally intended to expose schoolteachers to the resource materiel available at the Museum and to provide know-how on the development of low-cost teaching aids and other resource materials for enhancing the efficiency of classroom teaching. Nature camps that are arranged as part of this programme equips the teachers for natural heritage interpretation.

Publication

The NMNH occasionally publishes popular literature on environmental related topics, worksheets and workbooks for use by children. These include,”take-home leaflets” on selected exhibits and nature study project packages for youngsters. These are available to schools on request.