Source: CCTV.com
01-14-2009 15:14
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The Beijing Museum of Natural History is the greatest collection of plant and animal specimens in across our entire country. There are more than 200,000 specimens in the museum and an exhibition of the most precious specimens was opened to public quite recently. 148 specimens of extinct or rare species were exhibited. Most of them are specimens that still draw the attention of people worldwide.
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The items on display included a big fish that is distinguished by its special pectoral fin and pelvic fin, a fish that lived in the era of the dinosaurs, an immense bird that stood at a height of over 4 meters tall and many other unique animals that come from Australia.
There were about 10 specimens in this exhibition hall. The most attractive one was undoubtedly this big fish specimen with a grayish hue. What kind of fish was it?
The latimeria chalumnae was discovered in the 1930s. Scientists found that it was similar to the sarcopterygii, which is the ancestor of amphibians. It had a special pectoral fin and pelvic fin. The sarcopterygii evolved into two main animal groups: one group evolved into amphibians such as frogs that lived on land while the other group stayed in the oceans, such as the latimeria chalumnae. However, the latimeria chalumnae is extinct.
There are about 200 latimeria chalumnae specimens in the world and 3 are kept in the Beijing Museum of Natural History. The exhibited one here was set up in a vacuum chamber and kept in a dry environment. The viscera and its fatty tissues were removed. Only the muscles, skin and some fat were left behind. So is a way you could say that the latimeria chalumnae specimen is similar to a mummy. At one point, quite a few latimeria chalumnae existed in the oceans to the southeast of Africa. The specimen was a gift from the Union of Comoros. It is very precious.
Most people think that penguins only live in the South Pole, in a world of ice and snow. But the fact is that they also exist in Australia, Africa and South America. This specimen of a white-flippered penguin is from Australia and was also on exhibit in the hall. This penguin is also called the finlet penguin or fairy penguin. It stands at a height of about 0.4 meters tall, which is roughly half the height of a typical penguin in the South Pole. Australian penguins are the smallest in the world. The fairy penguin is black in the back and white in the front, almost resembling an English lord wearing a tailcoat. It is said that these birds live a fairly routine life, swimming in the sea before sunset everyday for 30 to 50 kilometers and eating roughly a 150 gram fish per day as well. Every September and October, the fairy penguins on the Phillip Island of Australia usually return to land at about 8:05 in the evening, which is quite a wonderful sight to behold. This fairy penguin specimen was sent as a gift to our country, testament to the friendship between Australia and China.
