Let your gaze wander through the historic display cases in this room – the Mammal Hall is a museum within a museum.
Presented as a classic exhibition collection, you will find representatives from all continents and specimens from all three mammal groups (monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals), including animals that are now extinct. Many of the skins on display here come from animals that once lived in Frankfurt Zoo or other zoos. Some, such as those of the gorilla family, also come from targeted hunting, which was quite common until the early 20th century but is no longer permitted today thanks to species protection agreements. Over time, more and more emphasis has been placed on the lifelike representation of animals in taxidermy. Some particularly successful examples of this are the dermoplastics of lions, jaguars, and orangutans. Extinct animals, such as the thylacine or the quagga, have to be carefully restored from time to time, as they are among the last remaining evidence of these creatures and there is no substitute for them.