The Beijing Natural History Museum is the largest natural history museum in China. Its collection of some 5,000 specimens is divided into three sections: zoology, paleontology and botany.
The 2,000-odd specimens in the zoology section illustrate the course of evolution from simple aquatic to complex terrestrial forms. These exhibits include a lynx and otter of northeast China, a peacock and parrot of southeast China and a whale and a giant clam, as specimens of ocean dwellers. Two eye-catching reptile specimens are a leatherback sea turtle and a Chinese alligator.
The fossils in the paleontology hall, from the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, give a glimpse of the prehistoric life that flourished between 500 million and one million years ago. Examples include the skeleton of a high- nosed Qingdaosaurus, found at Qingdao, Shandong Province, and the skeleton of a Mamenchisaurus, unearthed at Mamenchi in Sichuan Province.
The Botany hall contains specimens of a wide range of flora, including algael life forms and kelp.

Where: 126 Tianqiao Nandajie 
Open: Daily 8:30 am - 4 pm
 Admission: 15 yuan
 Tel: 6702 4431