Natural History Museum ISEA PAS

Woolly rhinoceros from Starunia

 

The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) is an extinct species of mammal that lived throughout Eurasia during the late Pleistocene, from the Pyrenees to Siberia. Alongside the woolly mammoth, it was the largest herbivore of the Ice Age. The woolly rhinoceros fed mainly on grass and lichens. An adult specimen reached a height of about 2 m and a length of over 5 m and weighed about 3.5 tonnes. Its thick coat and long, coarse hair provided excellent protection against heat loss during the harsh winters of the ice age. Its head, which narrowed towards the front, was equipped with two powerful horns.
 The exceptionally well-preserved body of the woolly rhinoceros, complete with internal organs and soft tissues, makes the specimen stored at the Natural History Museum ISEA PAS  on Św. Sebastiana 9 Street is one of the most valuable natural specimens in the world. The rhino's body was preserved thanks to the preservative properties of brine and earth wax (ozokerite) deposits found at the site of the discovery. In addition to the stuffed rhinoceros specimen, the museum also houses an original rhinoceros skeleton, mounted for display, made under the supervision of Jan Stach in 1948 and a plaster cast depicting the rhinoceros in the position in which it was found in Starunia.
 
Since the mid-18th century, only a few, usually small, fragments of woolly rhinoceros bodies have been discovered. So far, this is the only specimen in the world on display with preserved soft tissues,, including skin, is the one from Starunia. It was discovered on October 23, 1929, in a village now located in Ukraine, about 100 km southeast of Lviv. The specimen found is a young female that died approximately 40,000 years ago. The reconstruction of the rhinoceros’s appearance was carried out according to Prof. Jan Stach’s concept in 1929, using authentic skin removed from the found specimen. Unfortunately, the hooves and horns have not survived to the present day, and the hair has survived only on small fragments of skin. 
The remains of plants, insects, and small vertebrates found alongside the Starunia woolly rhinoceros have significantly contributed to expanding our knowledge of the Pleistocene environment and climate of the Podkarpacie region.

The silhouette of the rhinoceros, associated with ISEZ PAN, quickly became its hallmark; the most valuable specimen in the Institute’s collection is appreciated by visitors from around the world, not only from scientific circles. In 2019, the ISEZ PAN Natural History Museum had the honor of hosting a Japanese royal couple—His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino and his wife, Her Imperial Highness Princess Kiko. At their special request, the distinguished guests viewed the exhibit featuring the woolly rhinoceros from Starunia.   

          

Pleistocene megafauna

A permanent exhibition presenting fossil remains of extinct animals belonging to the so-called Pleistocene megafauna. The exhibition features the world's only fully preserved specimen of the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), dating back approximately 40,000 years, complete with skin and soft tissues. Also on display are the fossilised remains of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus).

 

 

Molluscs of the World

 

Spadzista – Krakow's mammoth graveyard

The Kraków Spadzista site is located at the foot of the Kościuszko Mound on the grounds of a 19th-century Austrian earth fort. It was discovered by accident in the fall of 1967. Regular excavations conducted by the ISEA PAS together with the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków began in 1968 and continued intermittently until 2023. During the research, one of the largest accumulations of mammoth bones and teeth in Europe was uncovered (both in terms of the number of bone remains and the number of individuals described). During the excavations at this site, the remains of a wolf, an arctic fox, a brown bear, a horse, and a reindeer were also discovered. Formed about 27,000 years ago, the site is one of the most important sites of the Gravettian culture in Europe for archaeologists. In addition to numerous mammoth remains, several tens of thousands of flint artefacts, such as throwing weapon blades and tools for processing mammoth skins, meat, and bones, were discovered at this site.
The exhibition also features a mammoth rib with a fragment of a flint blade embedded in it. This find is unique in Europe and is one of only a few known worldwide. It provides direct evidence that Paleolithic hunters hunted these animals.
 Wystawa finansowana ze środków Ministerstwa Edukacji i Nauki
Wystawa finansowana ze środków Ministerstwa Edukacji i Nauki

 

Talking to a stone

An original exhibition of minerals and fossils donated to the museum by Professor Zbylut Grzywacz. The exhibition presents colourful varieties of quartz, agates, geodes, gypsum ("desert roses"), and various types of salt. In addition to minerals, visitors can also admire fossils—imprints of animals and plants in stone, some of which are hundreds of millions of years old. The exhibition is dedicated to the poetry of Wisława Szymborska.

 

Beetles

An exhibition devoted to beetles, the most numerous group of animals on earth, which play an important role in the functioning of biocenoses, the human economy, and culture. During the tour, you can see a wealth of species from around the world, from small beetles to the largest goliaths. An additional attraction is a huge model of a stag beetle.

 

Biodiversity of insects 

The exhibition presents not only the morphological diversity of insects, but also their life strategies. Large display cases contain specimens belonging to most modern insect orders, arranged systematically. Here we find dragonflies, mayflies, and orthoptera alongside hymenoptera and butterflies, as well as stick insects, bugs, and flies. They come from different regions of the world. A separate display case is dedicated to insects from the Krakow area. In the further part of the exhibition, you can learn about the different life strategies of insects in terms of their feeding habits. The exhibition teaches us that phytophagous insects are vegetarians, while parasitoids and parasites live at the expense of others. We can learn about insects living in societies and see plant damage and galls – plant products caused by insects. A separate display case contains a presentation of current research on insects carried out at ISEA PAS.

 

Forest fauna of Europe

The aim of the exhibition is to present the species diversity of European fauna. The exhibition primarily targets the youngest visitors and is educational in nature. It features many rare and protected animal species, such as the eagle owl (Bubo bubo), the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), the wolf (Canis lupus), and the brown bear (Ursus arctos), as well as common species such as the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and the wild boar (Sus scrofa).

 

Cave fauna

The exhibition is devoted to organisms inhabiting underground sites in Poland and around the world. The cave-blind cavefish, (Astyanax mexicanus), exhibits adaptations to life in darkness, such as a lack of pigment and the disappearance of eyes. The exhibition also features amblypygid (Euphrynichus bacillifer), an arachnid familiar from the Harry Potter stories, alongside fish. The exhibition is enhanced by a video that illustrates the activity of animals in the deep dark zone of the cave.

 

Crabs

An exhibition devoted to decapods (Decapoda), one of the most diverse orders of crustaceans. Crabs (Brachyura) are the most numerous species presented at the exhibition. Most of them are marine animals inhabiting warm ocean waters. The Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi), is the largest crab in the world, and a model of it can be seen here. Its size impresses among smaller crustaceans. The invasive red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus), on the other hand, inhabits the cold waters of the Barents Sea. Among the terrestrial decapods, you can see hermit crabs and the coconut crab, (Birgus latro), whose diet consists of coconuts. The exhibition is diversified by a display of corals, which build the richest ecosystems in the world after equatorial forests.

 

Czatkowice – Jurassic invertebrates

The exhibition presents fossils of Jurassic invertebrates found in the Czatkowice Limestone Mine. This open-pit mining facility, which has been explored since before the war, is a site where finds are collected that are key to the systematic study of these fossil organisms. They enable the reconstruction of the marine world from millions of years ago. Since 2021, the ISEA PAS Natural History Museum has been the only scientific institution with the opportunity to obtain specimens from this site. Ammonites dominate here, but there is no shortage of snails and clams. Single shark teeth and the claws of the oldest known Jurassic crabs have also been found. The exhibition is complemented by an educational film showing the work in the “Czatkowice” mine.

 

Fluorescent minerals

British scientist George Gabriel Stokes discovered mineral fluorescence, one of nature's most spectacular phenomena, at the "Fluorescent Minerals" exhibition. In the world of minerals, there is a group of stones that glow with their light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. These include fluorite, dolomite, halite, and opal.

 

High-Mountain Fauna

The exhibition presents the fauna of the Himalayas and the Tatra Mountains found above the dwarf mountain pine zone. The dioramas depict animals in their natural habitats. Among the specimens on display are protected species such as the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), the Tatra marmot (Marmota marmota latirostris), and the Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica), which in the past were threatened with extinction due to exploitative human activity.

 

Out of Africa – Hominisation

An exhibition that reveals the mystery of human development and encourages reflection on the direction of our further evolutionary path. During the long process of development, humans solved adaptation problems, effectively distancing themselves in appearance and behaviour from other primates. We do not know exactly how the descent from the trees and adaptation to life on the ground took place. There are many theories on this subject, but it is certain that it was a gradual, slow biological evolution – anthropogenesis.

 

The reptile world

“The reptile world” combines fossilised and living animals. Several exhibition modules, divided into areas of occurrence, present this interesting group of animals in a setting that perfectly reflects their natural environment. You can see record-breaking reptiles – the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) (taxidermy mount), considered the thickest snake in the world, and the reticulated python (Python reticulatus) (taxidermy mount) – the longest snake in the world. Among the fossil reptiles, particularly noteworthy is the extremely valuable specimen of a 1.5-metre-long skull of a Cretaceous crocodile of the genus Steneosaurus. The exhibition is complemented by an educational section, where visitors can learn about the structure of reptile skin, what a snake's shed skin looks like, the shell of a leopard tortoise, and a tortoise egg.

 

Tropical forest