Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

The Museum national d’Histoire Naturelle is a museum in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, founded in 1635 as a research center by Guy de la Brosse, physician to Louis XIII, has a range of science and nature exhibits. At the entrance of the Grande Gallery of Evolution, two 26m (85-ft.) skeletons of whales greet you.

One display containing the skeletons of dinosaurs and mastodons is dedicated to endangered and vanished species. Within the museum's grounds are tropical hothouses containing thousands of species of unusual plant life and a menagerie with small animals in simulated natural habitats.