Natural history museum coming up

Ignatius Pereira, KOLLAM,  
The Hindu, January 2, 2016

The doors of the Forest Department’s first natural history museum coming up at a cost of Rs.1.08 crore at the forest complex at PTP Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram, will soon be thrown open to the public. The project is expected to be launched later this month.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Infrastructure and HRD) Shripal, who designed the project, told The Hindu that the museum will provide visitors an opportunity to explore natural history, ecology, and a variety of forests of the State through dioramas which showcase typical wildlife in a range of Western Ghats locations, including tropical evergreen, deciduous, shola, and grasslands. It has a marine wildlife section as well.

The museum has been set up on two floors. Though the prime target is students, it is informative to all age groups, says Mr. Shripal. The museum is equipped with audio presentations to enable visitors get an in-depth understanding of the State’s wildlife from the forest floor to the forest canopy.

The museum introduces the visitor to the forests through a description of the State’s geography and climate and moves on to nature and natural history of the forests. There are two leopards and a tiger in the museum stuffed in original pelt. The visitor will even get an opportunity to feel the texture of a true leopard skin.

But the most informative wing of the museum is the one dealing with sandalwood. The section has original sandalwood tree parts on display and the star attraction is the root portion of a huge tree, the part of the tree having the highest oil content. The section provides information on all therapeutic and cosmetic uses of sandalwood.

Other interesting sections include a forest vegetation map of Kerala, diorama on flightless birds of the State’s forests, information on birds, reptiles, plants and insects found in the Kerala forests. There are also dioramas on typical wildlife range locations to make the visitor get the feel of being inside a forest surrounded by native wild animals.

After the visit, children can participate in a quiz programme.

Mr. Shripal says visitors will be charged a token entry fee.