Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Natural history museum at Tel Aviv University, Israel
The Steinhardt Museum is a natural history collection at Tel Aviv University housing millions of specimens from Israel and the surrounding region. The exhibition is divided into nine themed sections where visitors can see skeletons, furs, minerals, and other objects from nature.
The collection began with the work of Father Ernst Schmitz, whose documentation of animals and plants spanned many years. The modern museum building opened in 2018, making this long-held private collection available to the public.
The museum displays plants and animals from Israel and the Middle East that help researchers understand the region's living world. Its collections show how different species relate to each other and what makes this area biologically important.
The museum sits on the Tel Aviv University campus and is relatively easy to reach. It is best to arrive in the morning when the exhibitions are less crowded and you can view the objects at your own pace.
The collection holds the last wild Nile crocodile captured in Palestine, a rare specimen from an era before the species vanished from the region. This animal tells an important story about how nature here has changed over time.
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