ZURICH: Palaeontological Museum of the University of Zurich

Abstract

The Palaeontological Museum of the University of Zurich is part of a double museum together with the Zoological Museum. Its main focus with about two thirds of the exhibits lies on the exceptionally preserved marine vertebrate fauna of the Triassic of the UNESCO world heritage site Monte San Giorgio in Ticino (Switzerland). Other parts of the museum show regional specimens and explain various palaeontological topics. The non-public collections additionally contain many Mesozoic but also Palaeozoic invertebrates. Although the museum in its current form exists only since 1991, the roots of the collection reach back several hundred years. For example, numerous specimens from the famous Johann Jakob Scheuchzer are reposited in our collections. Today, the scientific employees of the affiliated Palaeontological Institute carry out research on Palaeozoic macroecology, on the Permian/Triassic mass extinction and its recovery, on southern American Palaeogene and Neogene vertebrates and the Great American Biotic Interchange, on Triassic vertebrates as well as on a series of evolutionary questions.