First museum to open in Mauritius in 1842 when the naturalist Julien Desjardins bequeathed his collection to the State, the Natural History Museum houses the richest collection of animals in the Indian Ocean. Installed on the ground floor of an old colonial residence (Institute Building), it has reopened after three years of renovation, with a collection that has been restored and enhanced by a new layout. A JOURNEY BACK IN TIME Before reaching the room with the famous Mauritian dodo, the visit starts with indigenous and endemic birds of the Mascarene Islands (owls, barn owls, golden eagles, great pink flamingos, parrots, parakeets, love birds, etc.), rocks, fossils and geological specimens, and butterfly, reptile and amphibian collections, all exhibited in their respective ecosystems. The new Fish Gallery offers a dazzling array of Perciformes (including a huge cobalt blue marlin with silvery flanks and a lance-shaped jaw, and a remarkable sailfish, with its dorsal fin fully spread out), rare specimens like the dugong saved from oblivion, the surprisingly bright Two skeletons of Mauritian dodos (with Thirioux on the left) and (right) their cousin, the Rodrigues solitaire, alongside a collection of subfossil bones. Deux squelettes de dodos mauriciens (dont Thirioux à gauche) et (à droite) leur cousin, le Solitaire de Rodrigues, ainsi qu’une collection d’ossements subfossiles. Illustration from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. Illustration d’Alice au pays des merveilles, publié en 1865.
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