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HOME

Welcome to the Osaka Museum of Natural
History
The Museum focuses on the themes of the diversity of nature around us, theacknowledgement that nature has been cultivated over a long span of time, andthe close interactions between changes in nature and us, mankind. The culture of

Electronic edition of
the Museum
Guidebookchanges in cultures of human beings may change forests or swamps into bare hills

Welcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History

or rice paddy ﬁelds, and conversely, bare hills may become forests, and farmland

How to Enjoy the Museum

may change to factories. Human activities and nature are inextricable from one

Naumann Hall

another. With this in mind, the theme of the permanent exhibition at the Museum

1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"us, human beings, strongly reﬂects inﬂuences from nature. At the same time,of Natural History is “Story of Nature and Human Intaraction .”We hope that you will recognize or discover a lot of things in the Museum. Beyond
the impact of the large Naumann’s elephant and Allosaurus, which might leave astrong impression, we hope you can make smaller discoveries that may be an
opportunity to observe living things, to face nature, and to review your own
lifestyles, from seeing the lives of insects in interesting places or learning how theColumn: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"world of living things works through hands-on games in the 5th Exhibition Room.

3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"

The “Nature Square: Nature of Osaka” exhibition room introduces the diverse

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"nature here in Osaka. This section does not display special preservation districts,
but show ordinary ﬁelds and hills, as well as nature in residential areas. We hope
this exhibition becomes an incentive for you to face nature by saying “let’s go tothat mountain to observe nature,” instead of merely leaving the Museum thinking
that you enjoyed yourself.
In addition to enjoying nature in Osaka, those who are from outside Osaka may beable to recognize the greatness of nature in your country or area throughcomparing Osaka’s nature with that of yours. It would be wonderful if this is thecase. Moreover, understanding nature in Japan can make your understanding ofJapanese culture more profound. We hope that you can reconﬁrm, regardless ofregions or countries, the close universal correlation between the activities thatpeople engage in to maintain culture and the activities that preserve nature.

How to Enjoy the Museum
1. The 1st and 2nd Exhibition Rooms are located on the 1st ﬂoor of the mainbuilding, and climbing the stairs to the 2nd ﬂoor will take you to the gallery forfungi and minerals. At the other end of the building’s 2nd ﬂoor are the 3rd and5th Exhibition Rooms, and the 4th Exhibition Room is laid out along thecorridor. In the “Information Center for ﬂower, greenary, and nature,” is the

5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
For Kids

“Nature of Osaka” Exhibition Room, which introduces nature at each locationin Osaka and has a space for studying and Q&A. The Special Exhibition is
located on the 2nd ﬂoor of this information center.
Additionally, small-scale themed exhibitions are occasionally held in the mainbuilding, etc. Information on these exhibits can be obtained from the Museum
website or from Facebook.
2. Feel free to take as many photos as you want in the Museum’s permanent
exhibitions, as long as you do not disturb other visitors. However, please do
not conduct ﬂash photography, since it may be blinding to other visitors. We
welcome visitors to post and share their memories on SNS. We would
appreciate it if you add the hashtags “#osaka_shizenshi” or “#omnh” to yourphotos. Using translation apps such as Google Translator may be helpful if
you are using a smartphone.
3. When you ﬁnd something in the Museum that interests you, talk to yourfriends or family members about it. Your mother or father may actually know
a lot about things that you’ve already or never seen before.
As long as you are not being rowdy or running around, there is no reason foryou to be silent when looking at the exhibits. Please enjoy browsing theexhibits of the Museum of Natural History.
4. Talk about what you ﬁnd and what was enjoyable in the Museum with yourfamily and friends. Talking about Your discovery will cement it in you andeveryone’s memories.
5. If you have any questions or if you want to know more about the exhibits orabout nature, please feel free to visit the Museum counter. Our expert
curators will answer your questions.
6. Drinking from a thermos or a plastic bottle is allowed at the tables on the 1st
ﬂoor in the Museum, but please refrain from eating and drinking in the
exhibition rooms.
7. Please hold onto the ticket you showed us as admission until you leave. Aslong as you have your ticket, you can go in and out of the permanent
exhibition. Return visits to the Museum after a walk to the botanical garden orafter eating at a restaurant will be granted as long as it is within the same day.
Please use your entire day to enjoy yourself.
8. For those who want to know more about the Museum or to learn about
nature, there is the Friends of Osaka Museum of Natural History. Please ask astaff member for more information.
9. The website for the Osaka Museum of Natural History is: http://www.musnh.city.osaka.jp
The Museum Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/osaka_shizenshi
Our websites are available in several languages.
The English Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/osakamuseumofnaturalhistory/

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Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

Naumann Hall

Welcome to the Osaka Museum of Natural
History.

Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"

The huge elephant in the center of the exhibition hall is the Naumann’s elephant,
which inhabited Osaka for a long time between 20 to 430 thousand years ago.
Footprints of the elephant can also be found here, in the soil beneath Nagai Park.
Imagine an Osaka with a sprawling expanse of nature where elephants lived.
Naumann’s elephants vanished in the era when people started settling in Osaka.
Overhunting by humans is thought to be the reason for this. Human activities
sometimes make changes to nature. Likewise, we are forced to change ourcultures and lifestyles as nature changes. “Nature and humans are inseparablefrom each other,” and therefore, “Story of Nature and Human Intaraction” is thetheme of the exhibitions in this museum.

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
For Kids

The footprints following the elephant and those of the Sinomegaceros yabei were
faithfully reproduced from those that were excavated underneath the Abikominami Junior High School located south of Nagai Park.
Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition
Watch a video presentation by curators

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

1st Exhibition Room“The Nature World Around Us”
Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
This exhibition room is primarily structured around diorama reproductions which
depict actual scenes using models and specimens. The scenes depict nature in
Osaka, and slowly broaden perspectives from daily examples like the urban
lifestyle to nature in suburbs, and to farther examples like nature untouched byhumans.
This will be helpful for those who live in Osaka as well as visitors from overseas tointuitively understand the relationship between nature and our lives.
Visitors can enjoy, while browsing, looking for familiar organisms or evendiscussing differences between what is shown in the exhibition and familiarorganisms with those accompanying them.

For those who are from overseas
All organisms have their generic names and scientiﬁc names. Universal scientiﬁcnames are given to prevent confusion due to there being multiple generic names
for each organism. The universal scientiﬁc names, which are in Latin, are displayedat each exhibit. You will be able to search these names to look for a closely-related
species around you.
Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition
Watch a video presentation by curators

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
For Kids

1−4 Nature of country forest

Country forests surrounding farmlands which are used for ﬁrewood and charcoal
are called “SATOYAMA.” This is a space inhabited by a variety of organisms despite
being utilized by human beings for hundreds and thousands of years. Nature in
SATOYAMA is explained in detail in the 5th Exhibition Room.
Go to the exhibition

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

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ColumnNature in Osaka that you canlearn in the Museum
The Nature of Osaka Exhibition Room, Naumann Hall, the 1st Exhibition Room andhalf of the 2nd Exhibition Room are all good resources to understanding nature in
Osaka.
When thinking about how Osaka’s nature was formed, Osaka’s positioning on theearth is greatly signiﬁcant. The Japanese islands are situated on the edge of theElectronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum

Paciﬁc Ocean, and are hugely impacted by seasonal winds. This means that Osaka

Naumann Hallis a place that receives large impacts from the change of weather and costal lines

1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"

as a result of repeated ice ages and warmer ages in between the ice ages
(interglacial stages) during the past 2 million years.
During cold ages, the sea level lowers due to large developments of inlandglaciers, and results in Osaka Bay becoming broad land and Osaka becoming aninland area. In warmer ages, the ocean conversely expands into areas that are
currently plains. In addition to these conditions, changes in seasonal winds greatly

Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"change the temperature and amount of rainfall.

3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"

Nature over the ages that have undergone great changes from climate and shifts

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"in the coastline, such as nature during the era in which Naumann’s elephants were
thriving, forests which nurtured acorns for people in Jomon era, whale bones thatwere buried under the ground of the plains introduced near the entrance of the
2nd Exhibition Room (the age of Kawachi Bay), and swamp vegetation during cold
times, are all pieces of a puzzle that ﬁt together to form our current nature.
Organisms living during warmer ages and colder ages survived in various places in

5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumOsaka, all of which formed this diverse nature.

Column: "Nagasuke","Makko"Another item of importance when looking at Osaka’s nature is how signiﬁcantExhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"

human activities are. From the ancient to modern ages, the area where Nara,

For Kids

Osaka and Kyoto are situated was a location where capitals were established; andeven after that, this area continued to be home to important cities in Japan.
Meanwhile, the surrounding farm villages were engaged in production to support
these cities in addition to producing food, ﬁrewood, and charcoal for theirvillagers. For this reason, humans intervened in the condition of ﬁelds, mountains,
and rivers, and nature in Satoyama, which is grassland with an abundance ofsunlight and shallow water instead of deep forests, was formed over the course of1500 and more years. Various changes happened during this period, but thelength of time in which people interacted with nature led to Osaka’s special
characteristics with respect to its landscapes and biota.

It is not true that current city areas with skyscrapers are devoid of living things.
There are many immigrant species from overseas in cities, as well as native species
such as the Cryptotympana facialis (a type of cicada) whose population has
increased. Though there are immigrant species that inhabit cities all around theworld, these species also have individual characteristics speciﬁc to each city. The
blaring Cryptotympana facialis during Osaka summers may be one of the moreunique traits in the world.
Nature in cities is the most familiar type nature to its inhabitants, and especially tochildren. Taking an interest and looking at them closely may lead to new
discoveries or to learning something new.

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

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2nd Exhibition Room“History of the Earth and Life”

Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
Exhibits in this room are laid out in chronological order going back into history,
which you can travel from current to ancient times. It starts from nature as weknow it now to nature at the end of the Last Ice Age, then even further back to theage of mammals and gradually to much older times. Let’s expand yourimagination and think about the history of life forms from long in the past, bit bybit, to a little bit back in time from the familiar organisms of today.
The large skeletons in this room are “replicas,” which are scientiﬁcally faithful

5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"resources that have been molded from actual specimens. They are not fake, but an

Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"

important reference that can be used for research.

For Kids

Don’t miss the cast shadows on walls and the section under the staircase on the
1st ﬂoor.
Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition
Watch a video presentation by curators
Watch a video on skeleton restoration by a curator.

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

繁體中文

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Plan your visit

AccessExhibition

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

3rd Exhibition Room
“Evolution of Life”

Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
For Kids

There are about 8,000 specimens in this room alone. They are mostly all real,
except for some, like the human skeletal reconstructions. Various beautiful to tiny
insects, seeds and fruits full of gimmicks by the plant, various forms of marine life,and mammals with various kinds of teeth are displayed. You’ll be able toexperience how diverse the forms of organisms are.
The Museum of Natural History stores as many as 1.6 million specimens of natural
history, and it selects only the best one percent of them for its permanent displays.

Many of the specimens are for research, and the museum sometimes opens themto the public in special exhibitions.
Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition
Watch a video presentation by curators

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

No.4 exhibition (Gallery)“Nature’s blessing”

Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
Salad, bread, rice, dessert, and a wide variety of produce are something humans
have improved over a long period of time from wild breeds of plants. This section
shows which part of the world’s wild plants are the origins for our current plants.
Your dinner today should give you an understanding that you are eating theblessings of the world’s nature.
Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
For Kids

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

简体中文

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

5th Exhibition Room“The Lives of Living Things”

Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
Living things live by inﬂuencing and being inﬂuenced by each other in the courseof multiplication, migration to other places, eating other living things, being
parasites, or coexisting. Some creatures that live in paddy ﬁelds migrate toreservoirs or rivers. How environments combine around the environment thatorganisms live in, as well as the structure of surrounding towns impact the lives oforganisms. Furthermore, observing how insects, birds, and ﬁsh that travel long
distances live provides some insight to the fact that environments in East Asia arebroadly connected.
This exhibition room is designed so that children can learn, through games andNo.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"interactive models, the hidden principle in the lives of living things. Adults are also

Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"

welcome to try these activities themselves, or to gain an understanding throughFor Kids

watching the children play and provide them with explanations.
Watch a video presentation by curators
Watch a video presentation of an island biology game by a curator.
Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

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ColumnLearning about organism
diversity and about mankind in
the Museum
The exhibits in the 2nd Exhibition Room show the path that living things followedin the course of evolution. The 3rd Exhibition Room displays the different insects
that inhabit each part of the world, and shows diversity through displays of
individualized habitats of organisms which live in a shared area. The 4th Exhibition
Room presents today’s dinner full of vegetables, crops, and fruits that have been
selected from many plants which have undergone such evolutions. Finally, the 5th
Exhibition Room displays the mutual inﬂuences that these organisms have oneach other, and inﬂuences that human activities such as city-building andElectronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"

agricultural and forestry work have on living things.

Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseumHumans are also members of an ecosystem. There is a relationship between

2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"organisms living in paddy ﬁelds or waterways. Water circulates from mountains to
the ocean, evolutionary passages are completed over a long period of time,
movements on a global scale, and various circulation loops exist either in units ofshort or long periods of time, or in units of small or large magnitudes. In current
times, are human beings incorporated in the mechanism that supports this loop?
And how do human activities affect this circulation? Human activities have global
impacts. How should we live our lives and maintain the earth so that our children
or grandchildren can enjoy nature and diverse organisms?
We hope that the Museum can provide you with some hints when considering
these things.

3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"For those who want more information on theMuseumExplanatory materials and books are sold in the museum shop. However, theseare only available in Japanese. There are also many publications regarding eachindividual exhibit. Please ask the shop attendants or staff if you require any ofthese references.

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Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

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Column"Nagasuke", "Makko"
Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"

Finback whale "Nagasuke"
This sample is made from a carcass that was washed ashore on April 8, 1990, andit took us 7 years to turn it into a skeletal preparations. Although ﬁnback whales
live in ocean all over the world, there have only been a few cases where theircarcasses were washed ashore since they mostly swim off coast. The town ofOsaka is covered with man-made artifacts. However, it seems like this ﬁnback
whale is telling us that the sea of Osaka is also connected to the great nature
where whales swim. This skeleton is 19 meters long, and is the largest specimen inwhales that have been collected and exhibited in the waters near Japan.
The name "Nagasuke" was chosen from various names suggested by the museum
visitors.

“Makko,” the sperm whale that drifted onto
Osaka Bay
Since March 6th, 2014, the skeletal specimen of “Makko,” a sperm whale, has been
displayed in this Porch next to the skeletal specimen of “Nagasuke,” the ﬁnback
whale.
On May 22nd, 2010, the carcass of a sperm whale was found ﬂoating near the
Sakaisenboku Port. It was a 9.1 meter long, approximately 10 ton female. It had 22

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"
For Kids

teeth on the left side of its lower jaw, and 24 on the right side. It had teeth on its
upper jaw, but most of them were buried in its ﬂesh and could not be seen at thetime of dissection (Diagram 1). The long, thin notch on the very front of its upper
body on its leftmost side is its nostril (Diagram 2). A deﬁning characteristic ofsperm whales is their asymmetrical heads.
The Osaka Museum of Natural History dissected this sperm whale and brought itback to our facility. Then, we buried it in sand and created skeletal specimen. The
full skeletal specimen was unveiled to the public in 2013 for the special “Osaka Bay– A Cornucopia of Marine Life” exhibition, and as a result of asking citizens ofOsaka to submit a name for it, it became known as “Makko.”

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

简体中文

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AccessExhibition

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

Exhibition Room:"Nature of Osaka"

Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"

This exhibition shows where each organism lives in which part of Osaka. Along thewall are the mountainous environments in Hokusetsu, Ikoma, and Izumi, whichsurround Osaka. The Yodo River runs through the middle of the room, and issurrounded by nature in the Osaka Plains; in between them, there are exhibits ofnature in hill lands and farmlands. Some of these places are likely familiar to you.
If looking at the exhibits in this room peaks your interest, why don’t you try
looking in the nature around you? If you ﬁnd something mysterious or something
you don’t understand, feel free to visit the Museum again.

No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"Watch a video presentation by curators

Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"

Go to detailed explanation of the exhibition

For Kids

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

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Electronic edition of the Museum Guidebook

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Naumann’s elephants existed in Osaka!
Electronic edition of
the Museum
GuidebookWelcome to the Osaka
Museum of Natural
History
How to Enjoy the Museum
Naumann Hall
1st Exhibition Room: "TheNature World Around Us"
Column: Nature in Osakathat you can learn in theMuseum
2nd Exhibition Room:"History of the Earth andLife"
3rd Exhibition Room:"Evolution of Life"
No.4 exhibition (Gallery):"Nature’s blessing"
5th Exhibition Room: "TheLives of Living Things"
Naumann’s elephants lived in Japan until 20 thousand years ago. Footprints andpieces of their teeth were found near the Museum. Maybe people in Osaka way
back in time hunted Naumann’s elephants.

Were there elephants in Osaka too?

Column: Learning aboutorganism diversity andabout mankind in theMuseumColumn: "Nagasuke","Makko"A long time ago, big elephants were clumping around Osaka.

Exhibition Room: "Natureof Osaka"

These are fossils of those elephants’ teeth.

For Kids

What we found from the uderground us amazing stories of ancient Osaka.

When Naumann’s elephants walked...
There are strange patterns on the ﬂoor. These are elephant footprints.
Naumann’s elephants walked around in Osaka a long time ago.
How long were their strides when walking? We reproduced them with the help offossils footprints.

SanukiteAncient people made knives and spearheads out of this stone. Touch it gently, so
as not to hurt yourself.
The surface, which was exposed to rain and wind for a long time, is rough, but theinside of the stone is very hard and ﬁne. The tip of the broken piece is very sharp.
People from the Old Stone Age and the Jomon period who lived in Setouchi region
including Osaka made knives, spearheads, arrowheads, and other tools frombroken pieces of this stone. Sanukite was a necessary and important material to
make tools for hunting and cooking during the Stone Age, when metals were notbeing used. This stone was named because a lot of it was found in Sanuki (Kagawa
prefecture, now). It is distributed along the shoreline area of Setonaikai inland sea,
and can also be found in Mount Nijozan. It is called Kankan-ishi because of theclear sound it makes when it is hit.

Secrets of cockroaches
When did they appear on earth?
Wow, it was 300 million years ago.
They were on the earth way before humans. They can climb straight up walls, eat
anything, run fast... They have many strong traits.

How many kinds of them are in Japan?
There are about 50 kinds of cockroaches in Japan, in woods and homes. They love
people’s homes because it’s heated and warm! There are about 6 different types of
cockroaches that live in our homes.

How many eggs do they lay?
Have you ever seen cockroaches holding something at the tip of their bellies?
That is an egg bag, and it holds about 30 eggs.
They say that the number of eggs that a single female lays in her lifetime is 200 to
600!

What did people eat, a long time ago?

This is a storage for acorns! They say that burying them keeps them fresh until
next spring.
Acorns were important food for these ancient peopleFossil of a ﬁnback whale (jawbone)

This is a whale’s jawbone. Can you see the hole on top? This is a hole that nerves
passed through. These whales had no teeth.

The Machikane-wani crocodile

Four hundred thousand years ago, when people were not living in Osaka, these
big crocodiles were walking around.
When people were building university school buildings in Toyonaka city, theyfound small pieces of bones. Then, after digging there 4 times and doing research,
they found bones of an 8 meter long big crocodile. It was named the Machikanewani crocodile after the name of where it was found: Machikane-yama!

Sinomegaceros yabei

This fossil was found in a cave in Gifu prefecture. Big deer like this lived in Japan 10
thousand years ago.
I wonder if ancient people hunted Sinomegaceros yabei?

Naumann’s elephant fossil (jaw bone)

This fossil was found from the bottom of the ocean ﬂoor. A ﬁsherman caught it in
his net when he was ﬁshing.
Isn’t it surprising that we had such big elephants in Japan?

Boom, goes the volcano!
A long long time ago, there was a volcano near Mount Nijozan in Osaka! After it
erupted, many kinds of stones were created. What do they feel like? Try and touchit!

What do you look like?

What’s this? There are 2 animals with the same name. This animal is called the
Desmostylus.
It was very mysterious back when we found it, because it didn’t look like any otheranimal. So a lot of different people studied it. At ﬁrst, we thought it looked like theway it does on the left, but we think that it’s supposed to look like the one on theright.
Compare the differences in body shape of these two.

Coal
Coal is made from ancient plants. We used to use coal to run trains and to fuelheaters about 40 years ago. I wonder how a black rock like this can have so muchenergy.

AmmoniteAmmonites used to live in the ancient ocean. They are extinct now, and we aren’t
able to see it anymore. Touch it gently.
This specimen is a fossil of a kind of ammonite called Eupachydiscus, and wasfound from a ground layer in Hokkaido dating to the Upper Cretaceous period(about 85 million years ago). The inside of its shell was separated by a type of wallcalled dissepiments. Specimens like this fossil with scraped outer shells sometimes
have complicated curves that look like mum leaves. These curves exist at theintersection of dissepiments and outer shells, and are called suture lines. Since
dissepiments are not ﬂat and intricately crooked, these curves are formed.

Apatosaurus footprints

Apatosaurus are very huge dinosaurs. Its body was 20 meters long and theyweighed 30 tons! Put your foot into their footprints and compare them. How manytimes bigger are they than yours?

Touch the dinosaurs’ fossils
These are real fossils of dinosaur feet bones. They were found in Africa.
The owner of these bones must have been a gigantic dinosaur.

The world of minerals

Look at these many twinkling beautiful stone-like chunks!
Many minerals exist on earth. The things we need in life, like kettles or 10 yen
coins, are made out of minerals. If you make jewelry out of beautiful minerals...
you can make rings and necklaces!

Black quartz (quartz)

Beautiful stones, aren’t they? Hexagonal crystals have gathered to see which is thetallest.
Try touching the smooth parts.
The shape of the crystals is very orderly, and looks like a party hat with ahexagonal cone on top of a hexagonal column. The crystal face is ﬂat, but if you
touch it, it feels rough. This is because ﬁrst, a big crystal was formed, and then thesmall crystals formed on top of its face. The smaller crystals are also the same
shape as the big crystal.

The earth is full of bugs!

Where do bugs live?
Do they live in the sea? I wonder if there are bugs in Antarctica, too?
Are they also in poop?

Seeds with big wings

This is a dipterocarp seed. It has big wings. Dipterocarps are big trees that grow inthe tropics. They can grow up to 50 meters tall. What do you think will happen if
this seed falls from such a high place? Press the button to ﬁnd out!

If they ﬁnd you, surprise them!
When a butterﬂy gets found by a bird, the butterﬂy ﬂashes its big, round eye-likedesign on their wings to surprise it. Then, it runs away while the bird is surprised.
Let’s see the eyeballs beneath their wings.
Press the button to take a look!

The biggest crab in the world

This is the world’s biggest crab: the Japanese spider crab.
When it spreads its limbs, it becomes as big as 3 meters wide. They live in theocean near Japan.

Huge clams in the South Paciﬁc.

Huge clams live in the South Paciﬁc Ocean. The giant clam is the biggest bivalve inthe world.
The Australian trumpet shell is the biggest conch in the world.

Where did the plants that we eat come from?

This section has a lot of plants. Which part of the world did the vegetables andfruits that we eat come from?

Banana seeds
Have you ever seen a banana seed?
The bananas that we eat don’t have seeds, but they say that wild bananas intropical mountains do.
We think that bananas are fruits without seeds, but wild bananas have
impressively big seeds. The reason why cultivated bananas don’t have seeds is thesame reason why seedless watermelons don’t have seeds. They are both triploids.

Roly-poly acorns

Oaks grow a lot of acorns every year, don’t they? Many of them fall, but they don’t
all grow to be oaks. Acorns have to survive bugs, birds and animals that try to eat
them before they can sprout. Can it succeed in sprouting without any problems?

Roly-poly acorns… what happens to them?
This acorn is a baby of a konara oak. Even though many were born, not every
single one of them can sprout. Some are chewed on the inside by bugs, and others
are eaten by animals. Sometimes, fungi or mushrooms grow on them. What otherliving things do the acorns that get rolled around by us see? Can they roll to theﬁnish line and sprout successfully?

Will the mushrooms grow? Come out,
mushrooms!
What kind of places do mushrooms grow out of?
Mushrooms don’t appear just anywhere. They have places that they prefer. Can
you make mushrooms grow by gathering the places that they like?
Matsutake mushroom, small tree, Japanese red pine
Honey mushroom, healthy roots, Konara oak, Plum, etc.
Fomitopsis pinicola, weakened trunk, Japanese red pine, ﬁr, etc.

Nature in Satoyama

This is just on the outskirts of town. There are many environments like mountains
and woods, rice ﬁelds, and ponds, so many living things besides humans are here,
too. How do they live? Press the button to make the living things start moving.
How do they live during the fall and winter? Are there any early birds? Does
anybody go out at night? Do they go out to eat? What are they going to do?
Every time you press the button, you will see how these living things move aroundin the morning, during the day, and at night, in spring, summer, fall, and winter.
An explanation will be projected onto the front wall.

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Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Government of Japan in the ﬁscal 2017

Nagai Park 1-23 , Higashi-Sumiyoshi-ku,
Osaka, 546-0034, Japan
Phone +81-6-6697-6221(For domestic call, put "0" instead of "+81")

Copyright (C) 2016 Osaka Museum of Natural History.