Biology Museum, Biology museum at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The Biology Museum at Gadjah Mada University is a natural history museum in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, displaying thousands of preserved specimens from the animal and plant kingdoms. The collection covers zoological and botanical materials prepared through wet preservation, taxidermy, and skeletal arrangements, organized for systematic viewing.
The museum was founded in 1969 by merging two separate university collections, the Museum Zoologicum and the Herbarium, both previously housed at Gadjah Mada University. Bringing them together under one roof allowed for a broader approach to biological documentation in the region.
The museum holds a collection of Indonesian medicinal plants that have been used in traditional healing for generations across the archipelago. Each specimen is labeled with its local name and traditional use, giving visitors a direct connection to local plant knowledge.
The museum sits on Sultan Agung Road in Yogyakarta and is open on several weekdays, with closing times that vary depending on the day. Checking the current schedule before visiting is a good idea, as it gives you enough time to walk through the full collection without rushing.
The museum displays the skeleton of Nyi Bodro, an elephant that once lived at the Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace, alongside complete skeletons of a Javan rhinoceros, a dugong, and a wallaby. The Javan rhinoceros is now one of the rarest animals on Earth, making this skeleton one of the few physical remains accessible to the public.
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