Special exhibition

Guided tour at the exhibition opening with Daniel Bein, Head of Scientific Education of the exhibition.

During the last ice ages, in the Pleistocene, giant animals such as the prairie mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) lived on the North American continent.

About 10,000 years ago, the American mastodon (Mammut americanum) became extinct.

Created by American artist Paul Breeden, the graphic is intended to give an idea of the abundance of wildlife - especially visible species such as mammals, birds and fish - in North America. Shown are the areas of the later United States before the arrival of the "white man."

In addition to widespread species such as bison, brown bear and wapiti, Breeden has also depicted later extinct species such as the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet.

View into the animal world of the Indians: Bears were respected - one admired their strength and courage. Bear claws, from which necklaces and other jewelry were made and put on during various ceremonies, were very much in demand.

The moose is called "Moose" in the language of the Algonkin Indians. Translated, it means something like "the animal that eats the young shoots of the trees".

The wolf embodied a totem animal that was considered the guardian spirit or ancestor of a person or clan.

Rarities from the bird collection LIB: Wandering pigeon and Carolina parakeet - both extinct.

The migratory pigeon Ectopistes migratorius is one of the most common bird species that ever existed. But at the end of the 19th century, it was hunted so intensively that it eventually became extinct.

The Carolina parakeet was the only parrot species in North America that could withstand winter temperatures. As European settlers spread across eastern North America, parakeets increasingly lost their habitat. In addition, they were hunted because their feathers were coveted as pretty hat ornaments.

Dog warriors are the bravest of their tribe, when fighting they never give up. His feathered cap is decorated with turkey feathers, which were used to decorate many objects. The bow is made from antlers.

After European conquest and expansion, possibly 90 percent of the indigenous Native American population was wiped out (see map at right).

Left: Maximilian Alexander zu Wied led an expedition to the Midwest of North America from 1832 to 1834.

Right: The Swiss painter Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) was commissioned by Wied to depict all animals, plants and, above all, the indigenous peoples with the greatest possible accuracy and realism.

The journey of Prince Maximilian zu Wied, 1832 to 1843, illustrated.

Gathering of travelers with Monnitarri Indians at Fort Clark, on the right Prince Maximilian (in green skirt) and hunter David Dreidoppel, in the background Karl Bodmer.

European expansion can be understood as an environmental history - as an ecological overpowering of indigenous peoples, which is at the same time closely linked to the history of animals and plants.

Chief of the Blood Indians, war chief of the Piekan Indians, Kutane Indians.

"Buffalo" - The wild cattle once common in North America, often referred to as buffalo.

Indians hunted the bison with bow and arrow - or the special method of the "buffalo jump," a drive hunt for entire herds, in which they let them jump into the abyss. Due to the particularly intensive hunting of the settlers from 1870 onwards, the populations shrank drastically from formerly 25 to 30 million to only 23 wild bison in 1902. Today, about 30,000 bison live in North America again.

The explorers used their stays at the forts, the American fur trading centers, for their encounters with the Indians living there. In the winter camp, with the Mandan in Fort Clark, Prince Maximilian fell ill, as a result of a severe famine, because the hunters found no more animals.

Left: America's third president, Thomas Jefferson, commissioned Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead a first expedition to explore the new territories in North America - in preparation for American expansion westward.

Right: Lieutenant William Clark was appointed second in command of the expedition from 1804 to 1806. Accompanying Lewis and Clark were more than 40 men who, above all, were good hunters.

The Lewis & Clark Expedition, 1804 to 1806.

The 16-year-old Sacajawea (also Sacagawea) of the Shoshone people was the only woman to join the 1804 expedition with Lewis and Clark. Often her presence was enough to indicate to Indians the peaceful nature of the expedition.

"Sunka Wakan" - the "incomprehensible dog" is what the Lakota Indians called horses after the Spanish brought them to the New World in the 16th century.

From the exhibition Botanical Garden

From the exhibition Botanical Garden

From the exhibition Botanical Garden