Animals died in accidents, zoos at Zoology Museum

ISTANBUL - ANKARA

Animals that were found dead during field work or died in zoos after 1986 are being displayed at Bursa’s new Zoology Museum. AA photos

Uludağ University has recently opened a Zoology Museum, displaying nearly 2,500 animals including fish, frogs, reptiles birds and mammals that died from various reasons in different parts of the country.

All of the animals on display at the museum, which has been coordinated by the Faculty of Science and Letters, were found dead during field work or died in zoos after 1986. The animals were subsequently stuffed and sent to the museum.

The Zoology Museum covers an exhibition area of around 150 square meters. The bird collection in the museum includes 131 samples from 78 bird types. Among them are singing birds and birds of the shore. The mammal collection offers 48 animals of 26 types, while there is also skeleton collection in the museum. Uludağ University Rector Professor Kamil Dilek said the museum was of very significant cultural richness for Bursa and the Marmara region.

After 25-30 years

Speaking about the museum, the head of the Zoology Department and the person responsible for the museum, Professor İsmail Uğurtaş, said they had been collecting animals of various types for 25-30 years and had finally found a chance to open the museum. “The museum mostly has vertebrates.

These are frogs, lizards, snakes and turtles. We also have birds and mammals. Most of the frogs, lizards, snakes and turtles living in Turkey can be seen in this museum. Their number is increasing every other day. We dream of creating a larger museum in the future,” he said.

Uğurtaş said the city did not have a similar museum. “There are a few similar ones in the Marmara region and in Istanbul. The biggest difference with our museum is that we have never killed a bird or mammal for the museum. All of them have died in zoos or in traffic accidents and then were found on roads. We take them and prepare them for the museum. This is very important for the museum. This is why we are progressing a bit slowly. We find these animals, stuff them and display them here. There are also some animals from abroad.”

He said that they put one from each type on display while others were being kept in storage.

The Zoology Museum is open to visits three days a week between 1:30 and 3:30 pm. The entrance fee is three Turkish Liras.