Last month I went to the Natural History Museum in Chapultepec Park to see a special "ofrenda" that was on display in an exhibition hall there. After seeing the "ofrenda", I decided that I might as well take a look at rest of the place and check off another one of the city's 150 museums.
The Natural History Museum is currently undergoing a complete renovation, and only a portion of the museum is currently open. I can't say that natural history museums are my favorites, and, even after the renovation is complete, I doubt very much that Mexico's City's will rank as one of the greatest in the world. I doubt that it will even be comparable to the natural history museum in Cleveland. However, in spite of the that, the remodeled section that I saw was quite nice, and I found myself spending more time there than I had expected.
As you enter, the first section of the museum is devoted to evolution.
The hall is dominated by a replica of a dinosaur from the Jurassic Age.
The dinosaur is a casting of the diplodocus carnegii which is at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. This replica was given as a gift to the Mexican people in 1928 by the widow of Andrew Carnegie.
Next are exhibits on the different forms of animal life.
Finally, a number of dioramas portray different ecosystems of Mexico. Although Mexico takes up only 1.4% of the planet's surface, it is home to 10% of earth's biodiversity.
The cactus desert of Tehuacán, Puebla
The conifer and oak forest of Chihuahua
The tropical rainforest of Chiapas
The cloud forest of Chiapas
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