Introduction to NTU Museum of Zoology

The origins of NTU Museum of Zoology collection could be traced back to its Japanese governed Taipei Imperial University period, when Prof. Aoki Bunichiro (青木文一郎), Prof. Kyosuke Hirasaka (平坂恭介), and their students collected specimens of fowls, mammals, and shells from their respective research fields. After the recovery of Taiwan, the specimens have increased in all categories, the sorts and amounts of which mostly depend on professors’ and teachers’ research fields. For example, most amphibian and reptiles specimens are collected and organized by Prof. Yu-shi Moltze Wang (王友燮) and Associate Prof. Chin Jan Wang (王慶讓), while the fish specimens, in addition to those from Prof. R.S.Liang (梁潤生), are the masterpiece of Prof. Emeritus Shih-Chieh Shen’s (沈世傑) lifetime. As for recent collections, Adjunct Prof. Jiun-Hong Chen (陳俊宏) had endeavored to study annelids and gathered a myriad of Taiwan earthworm specimens. Meanwhile, Prof. Ling-Ling Lee (李玲玲) has also created a series of specimens of Taiwan bats and small mammals.

Most of the specimens from Japanese governed period are well preserved in the deep drawers of the antique wooden cabinets in NTU building No.1 (臺大一號館)，with some bone specimens of large mammals hanging from the ceiling of its corridor. In 1999, the Department of Zoology (Department of Life Science since 2003) moved from building No.1 to Life Science Building, which resulted in the re-arrangement of the specimens. Except for the fish specimens that are still stored in the Aquarium Fish Museum, other specimens have been moved to the animal specimen room and the collection room respectively on the 1st and 5th floor of Life Science Building.

Now, with the re-arrangement of the specimens collected before the recovery of Taiwan and the compilation of aged documents, many great memories of the Department of Zoology have been aroused. On the other hand, the specimens gathered after the recovery of Taiwan are fully utilized due to the systematic research structures built by individual teachers. In terms of functions, besides researching and teaching purposes, these specimens are expected to create brand new experience of Life Science for the public if they are used more efficiently in future exhibitions. Social education is what we have aimed to attain and have been making efforts for.

Specimen: Rich Data in a Small Volume

Why do we need specimens for the study of Life Science? Sir David Attenborough, an English natural historian and pioneer leader in nature documentaries once said that unlimited photos, models, or TV screens will not replace the importance of biological specimens in museums. These specimens lay the foundation of categorizing, researching, and understanding the natural world because they are real things.

In other words, real lives last with an ever-changing mode while specimens capture and reserve a certain moment of life. The messages they carry are significant bases for research studies of all kinds, including evolutionary biology, taxonomy,and even to the development of food and medicine. Taking science education into consideration, besides stimulating the thoughts of professional researchers, we also hope to turn the exclaims of visitors into their interests in scientific studies when they watch the specimens in person, which may further generate the love and respect for the wild life.

NTU Museum of Zoology's Timeline

1928A.D. —	Establishing Taipei Imperial University and the Department of Zoology. Beginning to collect specimens in Taiwan and Southeast Asia (南洋地區)，including the fowls and mammals collected by Prof. Aoki Bunichiro (青木文一郎), as well as the aquatic creatures gathered by Prof. Kyosuke Hirasaka (平坂恭介)

1930A.D. —	The completion of the biology classroom and NTU building No. 1. Storingspecimens, collected from various regions, in the wooden cabinets in building No. 1 for research and teaching purposes

1945A.D. —	After the reunion of Taiwan, the university changed the institution status to NTU Department of Zoology. Therefore, the collections of specimens hereafter depended on the research directions of teachers. The reptile specimens was collected and organized by Prof. Yu-shi Moltze Wang (王友燮) and Associate Prof. Chin Jan Wang (王慶讓); the fish specimens collected by Prof. R.S.Liang (梁潤生), together with the life time endeavor of Prof. Emeritus Shih-Chieh Shen (沈世傑).In recent years, the earthworm specimens by Prof. Jiun-Hong Chen (陳俊宏), the bat specimens by Prof. Ling-Ling Lee (李玲玲), the larva and juvenile fish specimens by Prof. Emeritus Tai-Sheng Chiu (丘台生), and the fish specimens by Prof. Wei-Jen Chen (陳韋仁)

1998A.D. —	Moving the Department of Zoology to Life Science Building, the specimens in building No. 1 being carried to the exhibition room and the collection room respectively on the 1st and 5th floor of Life Science Building。

2001A.D. —	Reopening the exhibition room on the 1st floor of Life Science Building as Animal Specimen Museum, starting receiving booked tours of groups and individual researchers。

2007A.D. —	After the reopening of the exhibition room on the 1st floor, renaming the museum as NTU Museum of Zoology, displaying the exhibition titled as “New Experience of Life Science” at its grand opening on NTU anniversary in November，officially opening the museum to the public and launching science education activities in the hope of being a multi-functional museum for research, collection, education and exhibition

2011A.D. —	Under the support of projects granted by Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Culture, and Council of Agriculture, making significant progress in science education, professionals cultivation, and specimen collection education, holding educational activities in all kinds: workshops for specimen making, portable exhibition boxes, children’s holiday museums, workshops for bio art，which has won great love and acclaim from the public

Building NTU Aquarium Fish Specimen Museum from Scratch

The panorama of Taipei Imperial University Taken in October, Showa 昭和6 (1931)

It has been through a long history for Dr. Shih-Chieh Shen (沈世傑), a well known international fish taxonomist, as well as the professor emeritus at the graduate school of NTU Department of Zoology, to launch the NTU Aquarium Fish Specimen Museum on his own. Among one of the most significant specimen museums for Ichthyology studies both in Taiwan and worldwide, the museum houses various type specimens and research specimens of fish species.

In 1928, the Japanese governed period, the Taipei Imperial University was established. In the beginning, the university was divided into the Faculty of Literature & Politics and the Faculty of Science & Agriculture, under which four subjects were founded : Biology, Chemistry, Agriculture, and Agronomy Chemistry. That same year, the Animal Specimen Museum (the current address of Aquarium Fish Specimen Museum) was also founded. 2 years later, in December 1930, the construction of the biology classroom, the present NTU building No. 1, was completed. The subject of biology was later expanded to the subject of Zoology and Botany in 1940.

With the shift of regime in 1945, Taipei Imperial University was renamed as National Taiwan University, and the subject of zoology that belonged to the Faculty of Science & Agriculture was transformed to the Department of Zoology under the College of Science. The management of the Animal Specimen Museum was also assigned to the newly-formed department. However, the scholars who managed the specimens in trust for the government focused their research mainly on cell anatomy, disregarding the functions and values contained in these animal specimens. Many precious specimens collected during the Japanese governed period were ruined, misplaced, and lost due to the lack of management. The collection and maintenance of the animal specimens suffered from the catastrophe.

In 1954, in response to the need of economic development for the nation, the Department of Zoology were subdivided into two groups: the “Animal Biology Group” and the “Fishery Biology Group”. Bearing the great responsibility of cultivating fishery professionals in Taiwan, related studies of fishery biology had become the prominent subject of the department. The building of the Fishery Biology Research Institute (later on renamed as Fishery Exhibition Hall 漁業陳列館), a bungalow sponsored by Taiwanese American Foundation.