SimplyAbuDhabi XLIX

palaeontologist Mary Anning offer glimpses into prehistoric seas, while the museum’s celebrated dinosaur galleries introduce creatures that continue to inspire fascination generations after their extinction. Yet these collections are far more than a spectacular archive of curiosities. Behind the public galleries is a working scientific institution. Hundreds of researchers use its collections to investigate some of the most pressing questions facing the natural world, from biodiversity loss and environmental change to the origins and evolution of species. A specimen collected a century ago may hold information its collector could never have imagined scientists would one day be able to extract. In that sense, a natural history collection looks in two directions at once. It records the past, but its value continually changes as new technologies allow researchers to ask new questions. Nature…steps outside In recent years, the museum has extended that philosophy beyond its famous walls. Its five-acre gardens were completely transformed in 2024, creating two free outdoor galleries and bringing the story of the natural world into the landscape surrounding the building. The Evolution Garden takes visitors on a journey through deep time, with rocks, fossils, planting, and sculptures tracing the changing story of life on Earth. Presiding over a Jurassic landscape of tree ferns, cycads, and ancient plant species is Fern, a full-size bronze Diplodocus inspired by the museum’s much-loved Dippy. 136 | Simply Abu Dhabi