Biodiversity

On the second floor of the Museum is the current Biodiversity exhibition, with a first phase that opened in 2011 and a second phase in 2017. The first room is dedicated to the marine fauna of the Balearic Islands, with showcases displaying the diversity of forms of mollusks (bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods), crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, and lobsters) and other invertebrates (echinoderms, sponges, corals, etc.). It also contains an explanatory panel about sharks, associated with a life-size reconstruction of a blue shark (Prionace glauca), one about marine mammals, with a large sperm whale vertebra (Physeter macrocephalus) and one about sea turtles, with shells and naturalized animals. Finally, this room also contains a complete diorama on the ecosystem of Posidonia oceanica meadows. It is an enlarged reconstruction of these plants and the organisms that coexist with them; from right to left the scale increases until the tiny foraminifera can be seen at a greatly enlarged size.

The second room, currently under renovation, begins with a small portion dedicated to foraminifera, with replicas of hundreds of species at enlarged size. Then follows the exhibition corresponding to the terrestrial fauna of the Balearic Islands. In addition to various introductory elements, it consists of three showcases that show the diversity of birds, with various naturalized specimens among which an osprey stands out, arthropods, with different entomological boxes with butterflies and other insects, and gastropods, with specimens of the shells of the main land and freshwater snails of the Balearic Islands, emphasizing endemic species. The central showcases also show different species of naturalized birds, among which a large specimen of golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) stands out, a species currently not present in the Balearic Islands. Finally, you can see 6 panels that provide data on the biodiversity of our islands: endemisms, the biodiversity of marine ecosystems, and that of terrestrial ecosystems, also commenting on the problem of invasive species for local ecosystems.