The Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum is Hong Kong’s first museum dedicated to biodiversity. It is a natural history museum promoting environmental education and the appreciation of biodiversity, encouraging its preservation as the natural heritage of mankind and supporting scientific research on biodiversity. Its role is crucial to the understanding and conservation of local and regional biodiversity, particularly in the context of the Hong Kong Biodiversity Action Plan and the global Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Due to its geographical location, topography and climate, Hong Kong has an astonishing diversity of plants, fungi and animals, estimated at over 30,000 species. With over 50,000 specimens, the museum houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of biodiversity in Hong Kong. Many of the species on display, collected between the 1920s and 1970s, are unfortunately now considered endangered and therefore represent an important heritage to be passed on to future generations, including traces of the intelligence of living organisms expressed through strategies of adaptation, cooperation and, above all, evolution.
By documenting this diversity and opening it up to the public during the Fête de la Science, the museum is highlighting the wealth of behaviours, forms and functions developed by living beings to meet the challenges of their environment: did you know that ants could form a raft?
The work of conserving, studying and enriching this collection provides food for thought on non-human forms of intelligence, and on our place within this vast network of living things.
• Hours: 2:30–3:30 pm on October 6 (in English); 11:30 am -12:30 pm on October 9 (in Cantonese)
• Venue: Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum, Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, University of Hong Kong
