The Gass Forest Museum is a learner’s dream filled to the brim with wonderful and fascinating things. It is certainly worth a visit to those interested to know more about the world around them. As we explored it recently, we found it a very enriching and informative place. We walked into the two-storey building to begin our quest for information.
The first thing we came upon was a case full of birds. These were stuffed birds and showed them in their natural habitat, and the same time effectively displayed the wide variety of birds in the world. As we moved around the room, we came upon other cases, each with different types of birds – predatory birds, like the crested serpent eagle, and relatively smaller ones, which fed simply on fruits or insects, such as the love birds. We also could see the variety of sizes, for example, the brown hawk owl was relatively a medium size, while the marsh carrier was much larger. Some of the birds of prey, such as the hawks and eagles, were also portrayed with small animals clutched in their beaks.
A special section was devoted to insects, as we came upon walls covered in cass – which housed dead butterflies, beetles and other insects. The different cases houses different species of butterflies, such as danaidae, the hypsidae and the lycaenidae.
We also came upon different types of animals such as the lynx, the jungle and leopard car, the striped neck mangoose and various others. The skin of a sloth bear, a stuffed bison and an Indian gazelle dominated the centre along with a leopard, while snake skins hung from different pillars in the room. A case with marine mammals in their natural habitat sat at a corner of the room, looked almost looked real.
At the far side of the room we found on display several types of wood such as teakwood, rosewood and so on. We also learned the old fashioned way man had made wooden pencil. We saw a rather wide, flat case, in which was kept fruits and seeds- such as the largest pod in the world, the cresentia alata (a fruit used as a bowl by a priest) and the Upas trees (which is used as a mat by a priest).
By the time we had finished with the first level it was too late to explore the second level. We look forward to another visit.
The writer is in class VIII B, Air Force School, Coimbatore
