TheMuseum of Evolution of Polish Academy of Sciences (Polish:Muzeum Ewolucji Instytutu Paleobiologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk) is the display area of thenatural history museum inWarsaw,Poland.[1] It is the public front of theMuzeum i Instytut Zoologii orZoology Museum and theInstytut Paleobiologii orPaleobiology Institute. It is based at thePalace of Culture and Science.[2]
In the halls of thePalace of Culture and Science inWarsaw, professor Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska organised an exhibition named "Dinosaurs of the Gobi Desert" in 1968. It was open until 1984 and featured the discoveries of Polish-Mongolian palaeontological missions to theGobi Desert.[3]
The Museum of Evolution was founded in 1984 when the Institute of Paleobiology took over the exhibition halls that the Institute of Zoology,Polish Academy of Sciences, had been using in the Youth Palace (a section of the Palace of Culture of Science). The public was first given access to the "Evolution on Land" permanent exhibition in 1985, which was created by Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska with support from Andrzej Sulimski and a group from the Institute of Paleobiology. Many specimens gathered during the excursions to Mongolia were on display in the show. A section of the exhibit was also devoted to contemporary creatures, especially insects and birds, with specimens from the Institute and Museum of Zoology's collections on display.[1]
A new display showcasing theLate Triassic amphibians and reptiles found inKrasiejów close toOpole opened in 2001. Both actual fossil material from the Krasiejów site and life-size replicas of both land and marine species discovered there are included in the display.
A life reconstruction of theAustralopithecus specimen "Lucy" was added to the museum's anthropology section in 2003.
The Museum of Evolution's gallery underwent additional development in 2005. The two new skeletal reconstructions of the Mongolian dinosaursTarbosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia, based on the most recent scientific knowledge of their anatomy, were among the notable contributions.
In 2009, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the publication ofCharles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Evolution was substantially expanded.[4]
The majority of the exhibit'sdinosaur skeletons were discovered during Polish-Mongolian expeditions to theGobi Desert in the 1960s and 1970s under the direction of Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska. The gigantic skeletal replica of the enormous plant-eating sauropod dinosaurOpisthocoelicaudia fills practically the whole main exhibition hall at the Museum of Evolution.Nemegtosaurus, a separate sauropod dinosaur from the Gobi, whose skull was put on this skeletal reconstruction, was discovered a few kilometres from Opisthocoelicaudia's skeleton. However, other palaeontologists claim that the skull and the skeleton belong to the same species.[5]
Other specimens from the Gobi, besides Opisthocoelicaudia, can be found in the museum's largest exhibition hall, including fossilised dinosaur eggs, the remains of early horned (ceratopsian) and armoured (ankylosaur) dinosaurs, as well as the tiny skulls ofCretaceous mammals that coexisted with the giant dinosaurs and lived in their shadow.[5]
The skulls and skeletons of enormous carnivorous dinosaurs found in the Cretaceous rocks of the Gobi Desert are also among the exhibits at the museum, and they are on show in a separate exhibition hall. The main attraction is two skeletal mounts of theTarbosaurus, an Asian relative of the well-knownTyrannosaurus rex. The present understanding of the anatomy of this dinosaur is reflected in the first mount, which depicts the animal with its backbone parallel to the ground. The second historical mount depictsTarbosaurus in a stance reminiscent of a kangaroo, in line with past theories of dinosaur mobility. These two dissimilar mounts serve as a great illustration of how far dinosaur knowledge has come in the last 50 years. The massive front limbs ofDeinocheirus were discovered in the Gobi Desert in 1965, and its identity was unknown until more complete skeletons were discovered in 2014, proving thatDeinocheirus was a large ostrich-like dinosaur.[5]
A group of young scientists led by professor Jerzy Dzik made some ofPoland's main palaeontological discoveries in Krasiejów, close to Opole, where they uncovered a cemetery ofLate Triassic reptiles and amphibians in 1993.[6]
The Krasiejów locality's actual "gemstone" turned revealed to beSilesaurus, a prehistoric relative of dinosaurs. The second major focus of the Museums' exhibition is on the skeletons of various terrestrial and marine species, as well as live reconstructions of such animals.
The Museum also has other Polish fossils on exhibit, including the oldest frog skeleton ever discovered, which was revealed in Triassic rocks from the area ofCracow.[7]
The casts ofpterosaurs and early birds from the renowned GermanJurassicSolnhofen limestone, which are some of the best fossil specimens confirming Darwin's theory of evolution, are among the other displays. The Mammal Evolution Hall has a realistic reconstruction of theAustralopithecus 'Lucy,' which was made by sculptor Marta Szubert under the direction of Karol Sabath, a Polish evolutionary popularizer.[5][8][9][10][11]
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