On Friday, June 19, 2026, at 4:30 pm, the new thematic area entitled “Not just Cetaceans” will be inaugurated, located in the Cetacean Gallery of the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa.
The new exhibition, which completes the display of marine mammals, focuses attention on those animals that have adapted to life in the water following different evolutionary paths than dolphins and whales.
The protagonists of the new exhibition are therefore the Sirenians (dugong and manatee), the Pinnipeds (sheets, seals and walrus) and the polar bear, whose complete skeletons and skulls belonging to the historical collection of the Museum will be able to admire, as well as scale and life-size models, casts of current species and fossils.
Different from each other in body shape, diet, swimming style, and ties to land, these mammals are all perfectly adapted to their living environments.
Particular attention is paid to the monk seal, a species historically present in our seas and then threatened with extinction but which in recent years has raised hopes of a stronger presence in the Mediterranean.
With the addition of the monk seal, the Cetacean Gallery includes all the marine mammals permanently present in the Pelagos Sanctuary, a marine protected area that extends around the Tuscan Archipelago, where the following also live: striped dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Risso's dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, pilot whale, sperm whale, and fin whale.
During the inauguration, a new volume in the series of guides to the Museum's exhibitions will also be presented: “The Cetacean Gallery”, produced in both Italian and English.
The exhibition was created with co-financing from the Pisa Foundation.
The inauguration will be held in the Museum Conference Room.
Access is free until all available places are filled.
Program:
Institutional greetings
Interventions by:
Simone Farina, Representative for the Vertebrate Zoology Museum Area of the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa
Chiara Sorbini, Representative for the Paleontology Museum Area of the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa
Conference by:
Giulia Mo, ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) researcher entitled “The monk seal in the Tuscan Archipelago between past, present and future”.
Next, visit the new themed island and the Cetacean Gallery with a small aperitif.