Musée D'Histoire Naturelle

 

On Sunday I went to the Museum of Natural History. Every day I walk through the small park in front of this building on my way to IES. It's easy to just pass by something every day and forget about its existence. But I decided that wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to see what was in here. So I did.

 There was a really expansive and really interesting precious rock collection. The friend that went with me and I spent a long time in this room. All of the rocks were extremely different and some were down right unusual. But everything had a beauty in its own right. I felt that the rocks in their original form are more beautiful than the cutting and carving that we do to them in order to make them 'beautiful.' Although I marvel at the accomplishments of human consciousness I am always in a state of disparity between loving what we have created, and wishing that we had left the earth in its original gorgeous glory. But like the immortalized Calvin and Hobbes once said "If people could put rainbows in zoos they'd do it."

 But that doesn't stop me from being impressed with what we have accomplished. The bust above is of Frédéric Cailliaud, a French naturalist, mineralogist and conchologist (shell scientist). He was the curator of the Nantes natural history Museum form 1836 to 1869. He traveled all over the place, sometimes with the French military, and collected rocks and stuff from all over. It was because of him that the museum is so awesome.

After the rocks there was an exhibit about the wetlands that once were Nantes. The French have drained and industrialized the area for as long as there have been people living here, starting with the Romans. But there are still some places where wild life can still survive. There was a bunch of taxidermy at the museum. Unfortunately there were badgers and no gophers. But that just goes to show that badgers are simply unAmerican.

There was also a live snake exhibit. This was the only active snake. I assume it's a girl snake, but I have no idea. Anyway she went from her sleeping state up on a little balcony to slithering down a tree. When I took this picture she looked up at me, and decided that she wanted more privacy  so she turned around, which is rather impressive for a snake on a tree to turn around, and went to a different branch. 

The last room was full of skeleton and shells and taxidermy  There was the skeleton of a baby elephant and the body of what I think was a humpback whale spanning the entire length of the room. It was two levels, and to get to the second level of the room, there were spiral staircases. I'm rather pleased when ever I see a spiral staircase.

I really liked the taxidermy of the birds. I took forever looking at them, and my companion was less enthusiastic. But I really enjoyed seeing the owls and the other carnivorous birds, and, as any good American, the Bald Eagle.