Since the beauty of Hill station is very much dominated by an
insignia of picturesque backdrop,cascading waterfalls, shimmering natural points but how many of us are aware regarding its specimen and manifestos that has been craved in beautiful Bengal Natural History Museum, Darjeeling.
Plinth of this humble approach was guided by ornithologist
Charles M Inlis, who was the Curator of the museum and he in his initial phase
with some collaboration with other gentlemen’s tried his heart out to make this
museum like what it stands today.
Well on its day of inauguration which happened in 1903, the
building had no enough rooms to compliment it like what we call museum, it had
only butterflies and the birds of the area but with the series of renovation
and with some serious guidance and guidelines today it has all the amenities
inside to entice naturalist, ornithologist and birdwatchers.
Managed and administered by forest department of west Bengal,
museum has different sorts of preserved specimen as a souvenir of their work,
some of which includes the rare and exceptional embodiments of animals, birds,
butterflies, mammals, insects and many more.
Beside that taxidermy unit which looks to cure, staff and
render animals are displayed in glass cabinet and this unit has been working
with the museum from the very day of its existence.
An array of collection which dates back it golden history to
the phase when there were hardly any means of understanding their importance
but today with the significance growth in understanding and preservation method
of bringing them back into their phase is very much initiated by the museum.
As you will enter the blocks you will witness glass cabinets
on both side and the first section of cabinet exhibits the class of birds some
of them are Himalayan Brown Wood Owls, Northern spotted owlet, Northern Brown
Fish Owl, pheasants, fly catchers, woodpeckers and many more.
You will be amaze to see compilation of over 820 specimens of
which 400 hundreds are of local breeds and 2 are of foreign kinds. Some of them
are really huge in size and it is presented to you be an authority of museum.
Beside the rare species of birds you will also witness huge
collection of eggs and once you will enter straight into main room you will see
gigantic crocodile which is of estuarine type and renowned as an apex predator.
From here you will witness the wide collection of snakes and
at the same time you have brilliant opportunity to understand about their
species and their origin.
Once you will come to ground floor you will see various
species of animals and some of which are Tibetan fox, Tibetan Lynx that looks
like a large cat, Toddy cat, Heads of wild buffaloes, leopards, panthers and
many more.
Now you enter into the section which is dedicated to insects
and here you will get to see various species of butterflies, moths, dragonflies
and many more. Altogether you have brilliant opportunity to witness and
experience something different here in Darjeeling.
How to Reach
Nearest railway station is New Jalpaiguri, which is at a
distance of 73 km.
Nearest airport is Bagdogra, which is at a distance of 69 km
from here.
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