Gardens, nature and the environment

"Archaic" plants have been included in the display at the entrance to the Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy to accompany the stegosaurus statue.

These are not plants that the dinosaur might have encountered, but present-day species that are close relatives of plants that appeared on Earth in the past and whose groups were numerous when dinosaurs populated the globe, before the appearance of flowering plants (angiosperms). This is why some of the exhibited plants include those that multiply by means of spores, such as ferns and horsetails, and others that multiply with a primitive mode of fertilisation, such as ginkgo and cycads. Conifers, whose seeds are not contained in fruit, are represented by araucaria and Wollemi pine.

In the Jardin des Plantes, nature defends its rights. Gardeners rely on natural processes that promote healthy vegetation, watersavings and biodiversity. Leaves are left in the beds so that the soil is covered over in winter, thereby avoiding the creation of gullies. By not digging up the soil, microfauna are encouraged and auxiliary insects are protected during the winter.

Flowerbeds are lined along the bottom with "mulch" made of shredded wood from pruning and trimming, orother plant waste. Plants are allowed to follow their natural cycle: dry leaves are left on the ground in winter in order to protect new shoots from cold snaps and fruit is left to feed the birds.

No synthetic fertilisers or plant protection products are used in the garden.

The bee is the only insect whose entire production is consumed by humans: honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, wax and venom.

Humans were already harvesting honey in prehistoric times, but the first signs of beekeeping appear among the Egyptians.

Beehives have been installed close to melliferous plants, protected from the wind, facing south-east, neara source of water and away from any of the paths.

A beehive houses a colony of domestic honeybees, a queen who, after being fertilised by drones in the spring, spends her life laying 1,500 to 2,000 eggs per day, and 40,000 to 60,000 worker bees who sustain life in the colony. Their job changes according to their age: cleaning, feeding the queen and brood, building, storing food, guarding. And let’s not forget: foraging!

On the Museum's seal, the first version of which dates back to 1793, a beehive and bees represent the animal kingdom and the collective work of faculty members in shaping science...

Designed by the French National Forestry Office (ONF), in partnership with the French Office for Insects and their Environment (Opie), this "hotel" is intended for wild bees, pollinating insects and other useful garden creatures. By reproducing the various habitats that have become rare in the urban environment (dead wood, stumps, twigs, etc.) the hotel encourages species that seek these out to spend the winter there or to lay their eggs there in the summer.

Pollinating insects and auxiliaries provide a veritable ecological service that is now being threatened by urbanisation, the intensification of agriculture and climate change, which all cause disruption to their populations. If the symbol of this threat is the decline of the honey bee, what has become of the most common wild species that also provide much of this service?

Arctictis binturong
Viverridae family

Because its weight prevents it from jumping from branch to branch, the binturong uses its prehensile tail and powerful claws to climb down tree trunks head first.

It is classified as a carnivore because it has sharp premolars and well-developed canines, but it mainly eats fruit, thereby contributing to seed dispersal and forest regeneration.

This nocturnal animal signals its presence by secreting a characteristic scent, which is produced by glands under its tail, onto tree trunks and branches.

Far from being a shy creature, it has long been captured as a pet, hunted for its fur or meat, and is sometimes used in traditional medicine.

IUCN status: Vulnerable
Food: Fruit, insects, birds
Size: 22 kg - 96 cm long (+ 90 cm tail)
Litter: 1 to 3 young - gestation: 3 months
Habitat: Dense and humid tropical forests

Ailurus fulgens
Ailuridae family

Discovered in 1821, the red panda, or lesser panda, was for a long time classified with raccoons and – like the giant panda – with bears. Molecular genetic research has shown that it is the only representative of the Ailuridae family. It feeds mainly on bamboo shoots, which are easier to digest than leaves, gripping them with a "false thumb" which is actually a highly developed wrist bone.

Protected areas only cover about one third of its range. Deforestation is still the greatest threat facing this animal: fragmented territory causes populations to become isolated, increasing the risk of inbreeding.

Over 50 zoos in Europe now look after this species.

IUCN status: Vulnerable
Food: Mainly bamboo, also berries, eggs, chicks
Size: 6 kg maximum - 60 cm long (+ 45 cm tail)
Litter: 1 to 4 young – gestation: 135 days
Habitat: Mountain forests between 2,200 and 4,800 m above sea level.

In 2004, the Japanese city of Matsue gave 32 varieties of tree peonies to the Jardin des Plantes. On Daikon Island, in the middle of a lagoon, Matsue has a superb garden with 250 horticultural varieties. With 1,800,000 plants grown each year, Daikon is the largest peony cultivation site in Japan. Garden peonies, Paeonia x suffruticosa, were created by the hybridisation of four wild species from China. This selection process began 2,000 years ago and was developed by the Japanese in the 8^th century. Unlike herbaceous peonies, the stems of tree peonies are woody, have branches and survive the winter. They can grow up to two metres tall. In April and May, the majestic flowers can exceed 25 centimetres in size.

In France, a hundred or so cameras that are connected to the FRIPON network keep permanent watch of the sky. Any meteors that are observed indicate the arrival of extraterrestrial matter on Earth. If it is a speck of dust or a small particle, there will be just one "shooting star", of which only the largest will be detected by the FRIPON cameras.

Any larger objects will be picked up by dozens of cameras and be from a meteorite: a fragment of an asteroid or another planetary body that has fallen to Earth.

Meteorites come from matter that has evolved very little since the genesis of the solar system and studying them allows us to go back in time. The Museum has an extensive collection of meteorites and conducts cutting-edge research on extraterrestrial matter.

This 800-kilogram slice of rock came from the Vredefort crater in South Africa, the largest known impact crater on Earth.

When a massive extraterrestrial body hits our planet, it is barely slowed down by the atmosphere and will create an impact crater, a huge cavity blasted by the energy brought by the incredible speed of the bolide (at least 70,000 km/h!).

The rocks that line the crater floor are crushed and melted by the impact. The solidified liquid forms a black paste between the blocks of pink gneiss.

The size of the blocks gives an idea of the violence of the phenomenon: the cavity is 300 kilometres in diameter and was formed more than 2 billion years ago by the impact of an asteroid, the size of which is estimated at around 20 kilometres.

Located underground on three levels and nearly 4,000 m², the zoological library preserves the animal collections that were formerly stored in the Zoology Gallery. Nearly 8 million individual creatures, some of which have been in the Museum since 1740, are kept at 16°C and a humidity level of 55%.

In 1896, speleologist and naturalist Armand Viré had a laboratory built into the limestone mines underneath the Hôtel de Magny. While it was very rudimentary, it enabled him to make his observations on "obscuricole fauna". This laboratory was in operation until 1914.

The silky filaments covering this shrub are produced by the gregarious caterpillars of a moth – the large charcoal moth (Yponomeuta cagnagella). These caterpillars are not dangerous to humans. Despite the damage caused by the consumption of its leaves, the momentarily weakened spindle tree will regrow new foliage after the lepidopteran larvae have woven their pupal cocoons. With a view to protecting the environment, the Jardin des Plantes is committed to an approach that limits the use of phytosanitary products. As such, no plant that shows signs of what is only considered to be aesthetic "damage" will receive treatment – not even with the use of "organic" products.