>> more pictures

The Toulouse Museum collections contain approximately two and a half million pieces spread over 3000 m2 of exhibition rooms.

The first thing the visitor sees is the reconstruction of the skeleton of a quetzalcoatlus, the largest known flying reptile (a wingspan of over twelve metres), along with a stuffed Asian elephant. This is followed by a gradual stroll through the history of life.

In addition to palaeontology and pre-history, the collections are well known in other areas, such as ornithology with Victor Besaucèle's 4,500 specimens of birds from temperate zones and palearctic regions , one of Europe's finest collections , and ethnography, with some remarkable oceanic series

The museum's botanical gardens give the public an opportunity to learn more about the life of plants, explore the relationship between the plant and animal worlds (including man) and observe the phenomena that demonstrate the unity of the living world.
The presentation greenhouses cover an area of around 300 m2 and contain a wide range of curiosities, such as plants that have no direct contact with the ground, stone plants, cactuses, creepers and carnivorous plants, the latter demonstrating the many ways in which they capture their prey.