Museum displays skeletons of vertebrates

EDİRNE

The Vertebrate Museum at the Trakya University (TU) Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, displaying hundreds of specimens from reptiles, birds and mammals, draws the attention of people with its great biological diversity.

In the museum, there are original skeletons of some animals as well as their embalmed bodies. All of the specimens in the museum consist of animals that died in Thrace resulting from illnesses or car crashes.

The university students get educated by seeing the museum’s animals that they cannot see in nature.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Mustafa Kaya, an ornithologist and academic at the Thrace University, said that out of 484 bird species in Turkey, 333 were seen in Thrace, with 237 in Edirne. Noting the interest in the museum has been increasing day by day, Kaya stated that there were many specimens of these bird species in the Vertebrate Museum, which was established about 10 years ago at the university.

Explaining that there are more than 150 birds belonging to 90 species and a large number of skeletons of vertebrate animals in the museum, Kaya said: “It is not easy for our students or people who come to visit the museum to see these birds in nature. They see the birds and get information about them in the museum. When they see a bird that is in danger of extinction in nature, they protect it.”

He also said that the museum was a source of information not only for university students but also for primary and secondary school students.