Very interesting thread. I will read it after. Regarding that subject, I think that the absolutely unbeatable winner in the world is the Congo Basin rainforest diorama at the König museum, Bonn, Germany. It's absolutely a real African rainforest frozen in time. Every minute detail is exhaustively cared for. The leaves are undistinguishable from real plant leaves, not like those plastic leaves that florists made for decoration. Many leaves have bites, infections and fungus in the most absolute realistic way. The leaf litter in the soil is incredible, the fallen fruits and the ants, the butterflies sucking at fresh dung... Every small insect put into the leaves are in a really natural position, with each leg firmly attached to the irregular surfaces of the leaves. And every insect is Central African native. Of course this diorama is also full of incredibly dreamed species, from zebra duiker to giant otter shrew, picathartes or mountain gorillas. Every big animal is also in a very naturalistic position, not intended as showing themselves to the public, but partially hiding or doing activities as you would found them in a real jungle. Unlike the Congo Basin rainforest diorama at Biodiversity Hall of AMNH, in the one at Bonn all the models are real taxidermy/preserved specimens, none artificial reconstruction.
Of course, the König museum also have other incredibly magnific dioramas such as the big African Savannah one, but is the African Jungle one what impressed me more of every museum I've visited in the world.
I must say that the various dioramas of African, Asian and North American mammals of AMNH are fabulous too. But no doubt Bonn's African rainforest is the best one in my opinion.
