We recently visited Montevideo’s National Museum of Natural History, one of the many museums here in Uruguay, all of them small by world standards. The nice thing about small museums is that you don’t need to make a full day of popping into one, and if there is an admission price, it’s not much. (and some are free) Having said that, I love natural history museums and found this one just too small, it left me wanting more, though what there was was very professionally organised and informative.
South America intrigued Charles Darwin who on his visits to this continent experienced and observed plant and animal life plus extinct forms of modern day plants and animals via fossils in the rock layers, all of which he diligently recorded, and which led over several years to him developing his Theory of Natural Selection. He travelled extensively around this continent including time spent in the Falkland Islands, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, The Galapagos Islands, Chile, along the way journeying into the Andes and more. We’re so fortunate to have great documentation of his travels and his experiences like his Voyage of The Beagle and the proceedings and journals of the major scientific associations to which he presented his work.
From Science News “Many of the species Darwin discovered in the fossils were previously unknown to science, including several giant ground sloths, compact car–sized relatives of armadillos called glyptodonts (SN Online: 2/22/16) and ancient kin of horses and elephants. Because many of those animals were apparently extinct — but just as apparently related to species still living in the region — Darwin concluded the fossils were strong evidence for the “transmutation,” or evolution, of species. This evidence was all the more convincing to him, Lister suggests, because he had unearthed the fossils himself. He saw firsthand the fossils’ geologic context, which enabled him to more easily infer how species had changed through time.”
Montevideo’s National Museum of Natural History has this beautiful Glyptodon fossil, complete with an amazing spike-ended tail looking for all the world like a lethal weapon of war, the mace. It was rather disappointing that this magnificent fossil sits in a cluttered space in front of some kind of storage instead of occupying an otherwise empty space without distractions so that it’s magnificence can be appreciated. Some similar fossils have been reported to be as large as cars but up to 8ft tall, and often likened to the VW Beetle. There are several similar fossils at Colonia, and a terrific one at MAPI the Museum of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art in the Ciudad Viejo, Montevideo.
An interesting nearby area featured birds of Uruguay, their nests and eggs, with an accompanying chart identifying them all and their usual habitats. But I felt that missing from this display was a taxidermist treated model of each one, that might have tied all the species and their habitats together within the national territory of Uruguay.
The museum is housed in a historic building on a large block of land, and I hope there are some plans for expansion of this museum – as institutions of this kind have so much value for the nation and the education of its children.
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