Where are the great African animal dioramas in the world's natural history museums?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
From several discussion threads and photos in the gallery it is clear that many of us are natural history museum fans as well as zoo fans.

I'm trying to compile a list of natural history museums with noteworthy dioramas of African ecosystems and their inhabitants.

The ones that I am most familiar with are the California Academy of Sciences and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum which both have African Halls with dioramas of African savannas, forests, wetlands, and deserts.

The American Museum of Natural History has a legendary African animal hall with dioramas by Carl Akeley.

Curiously two of the great natural history museums of the world, the Natural History Museum in London and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC, seem to have almost no dioramas. The Smithsonian has a giant African elephant in its entry rotunda which is kind of a diorama.

Any other suggestions that people have for African dioramas to look at, and any photo links, will be much appreciated.
 
DavidBrown said:
From several discussion threads and photos in the gallery it is clear that many of us are natural history museum fans as well as zoo fans.

I'm trying to compile a list of natural history museums with noteworthy dioramas of African ecosystems and their inhabitants.

The ones that I am most familiar with are the California Academy of Sciences and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum which both have African Halls with dioramas of African savannas, forests, wetlands, and deserts.

The American Museum of Natural History has a legendary African animal hall with dioramas by Carl Akeley.

Curiously two of the great natural history museums of the world, the Natural History Museum in London and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC, seem to have almost no dioramas. The Smithsonian has a giant African elephant in its entry rotunda which is kind of a diorama.

Any other suggestions that people have for African dioramas to look at, and any photo links, will be much appreciated.
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AMNH, hands down. In the US, Cal Academy and Denver Museum of Natural History have interesting, newer versions of the concept, but nothing compares with Akeley's masterwork. The Field Museum in Chicago also has some good examples of the genre.

Of special interest to afficianados is the brilliant "puff of dust" seeming to emanate from the paw of an "accelerating cheetah" chasing a gazelle in Denver's African hall. Worth the price of admission by itself. Museum magic.....
 
This looks like a fairly serious thread. You may want to consider moving it to another forum. :)

Melbourne Museum has some stuffed animals, but not really a diorama per se.
 
reduakari said:
AMNH, hands down. In the US, Cal Academy and Denver Museum of Natural History have interesting, newer versions of the concept, but nothing compares with Akeley's masterwork. The Field Museum in Chicago also has some good examples of the genre.

Of special interest to afficianados is the brilliant "puff of dust" seeming to emanate from the paw of an "accelerating cheetah" chasing a gazelle in Denver's African hall. Worth the price of admission by itself. Museum magic.....
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions, reduakari.

Here is a picture of the cheetah diorama with the "puff of dust": http://www.dmns.org/imagegen.ashx?&image=/media/4633/Diorama-Condition-Survey2_560x336.jpg

How did they do that? Is the "dust" some kind of wispy gauze?
 
Dassie rat said:
The Powell Cotton Museum at Quex Park (Powell-Cotton Museum built to house the growing collection of natural history) has some good African dioramas. It is based in Birchington, Kent in the UK.
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I agree; the dioramas, especially the African ones, in the Powell-Cotton Museum are extremely impressive; I cannot think of any better in the UK. (To be objective, they're not up to the standard of those in Carl Akeley's Hall of African Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History but then I guess no dioramas, anywhere, beat those.)

A visit to the Powell-Cotton Museum is thoroughly recommended; it is a very interesting place.
NB This museum does not open every day so anyone planning to visit should check the opening times to avoid a wasted journey.

Powell-Cotton, of course, is the person who collected the type specimen of the northern white rhinoceros, named cottoni in his honour.
 
there are some great African dioramas in the African museum just outside Brussels . I believe the museum is now closed for renovation , I hope they keep the dioramas when they reopen .
 
DavidBrown said:
Curiously two of the great natural history museums of the world, the Natural History Museum in London and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC, seem to have almost no dioramas.
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The London Nat. His. Mus. did used to have a huge hall with very impressive Dioramas, but it is sadly no more. Tim May might know when this exhibit closed.
 
Tim May said:
I agree; the dioramas, especially the African ones, in the Powell-Cotton Museum are extremely impressive; I cannot think of any better in the UK. (To be objective, they're not up to the standard of those in Carl Akeley's Hall of African Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History but then I guess no dioramas, anywhere, beat those.)

A visit to the Powell-Cotton Museum is thoroughly recommended; it is a very interesting place.
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I was fortunate to see Akeley's dioramas in the AMNH many years ago now- they are very impressive though I was rather saddened, particularly by the Mountain Gorilla one, at the same time.:(

I've never been to the Powell-Cotton museum- but it sounds like a tie in with a Howletts visit would be possible though.
 
There is a very nice Natural History Museum in Bern (Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern) that has a number of very impressive African dioramas; if you’re in that part of Switzerland then a visit is thoroughly recommended.
 
Pertinax said:
The London Nat. His. Mus. did used to have a huge hall with very impressive Dioramas, but it is sadly no more. Tim May might know when this exhibit closed.
Click to expand...

Whereabouts in the museum was this? It sounds very impressive. I haven't seen any decent dioramas of African species in any museums in NZ or Australia.
 
Pertinax said:
The London Nat. His. Mus. did used to have a huge hall with very impressive Dioramas, but it is sadly no more. Tim May might know when this exhibit closed.
Click to expand...

I assume that you’re referring to the Rowland Ward Pavilion that had some very attractive dioramas. I especially liked the one that featured a giant sable antelope; others contained bongo, okapi and giraffe. Disappointingly these dioramas were dismantled about a decade ago and I was very sorry to see them go.

(What I miss most, though, at this museum is the type specimen of mountain nyala that used to be on display at the top of the main staircase and has now been removed from exhibit.)
 
Where are the great......

There's a good one in Ipswich Museum, with (from memory) Kudu, Leopard, Grevy's Zebra, Ostrich, family of Lions, monitor lizard, vulture and others. This is in the Victorian Gallery of this excellent municipal museum, well worth a visit. They also have Gorillas, adult Giraffe, Indian Rhinoceros (now with artificial horn after the real one was stolen) and a comprehensive collection of British birds (mainly from Suffolk). Also Passenger Pigeons, Huias and a really impressive 'reconstructed' Mammoth.
 
Resurrecting this thread about great African dioramas in natural history museums:-

I was recently in Cologne for ZooHistorica and, whilst in this part of Germany, took the opportunity to visit the Koenig Zoology Museum in Bonn; I had never been there before.

I was very impressed by this museum’s excellent African diorama; one of the finest I’ve seen.

There are, of course, many interesting zoos in this part of Germany (Cologne, Wuppertal, Duisburg, Dortmund, Krefeld......) and if anybody is having a zoo visiting trip in area I would recommend including this museum on the itinerary too.
 
Hello Tim

I like the Koenig Museum too. I remember seeing a specimen of a Barton's New Guinea spiny anteater there. A member of staff let me see a Barton's spiny anteater and the type I also saw the type specimen of the Bubu spiny anteater at the Natural History Museum in London; the Bubu variety is no longer classified as a distinct species. I've only seen pictures of the Attenborough's spiny anteater.
 
Why indoor exhibits of big mammals are not designed like dioramas?

I know of few zoos with beautiful, naturalistic indoor enclosures, but others are purely functional stalls, or have no indoor view.
 
Well it is not exactly a diorama, because it also includes the non-taxidermied mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico and his family. :D

click HERE to see a picture. :p

If you want to see more Google, "Jorge Santini Christmas cards".
 
FBBird said:
There's a good one in Ipswich Museum, with (from memory) Kudu, Leopard, Grevy's Zebra, Ostrich, family of Lions, monitor lizard, vulture and others. This is in the Victorian Gallery of this excellent municipal museum, well worth a visit.
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I agree that this is an excellent museum with a fine African diorama.

I visited this afternoon for the first time in many years; having just seen this diorama again, I can confirm that the “others” include baboon, warthog, bush pig, springbok and Kirk’s dik-dik.

(Incidentally, on previous visits, I recall that the museum also had a couple of lion x tiger hybrid cubs on display but, despite searching for them, I couldn’t find them today.)
 
Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh has a small African natural history gallery with diorama.
 
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