| Pakistan Museum of Natural History | |
| Native Name Lang: | ur |
| Map Type: | Punjab Pakistan#Pakistan |
| Coordinates: | 33.6864°N 73.0764°W |
| Location: | Garden Avenue, Shakarparian, Islamabad, Capital Territory, Pakistan |
| Type: | Natural history museum |
| Owner: | Pakistan Science Foundation |
| Collection: | 1.5 million |
Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH), (Urdu: {{Nastaliq|عجائب خانہ جاتِ پاکستان برائے طبعی تواریخ) established in 1976,[1] is a public natural history museum situated in Islamabad, the federal capital of Pakistan.[2] [3]
It has exhibits and galleries which display and provide information about the ecology, geology, and paleontology of the country. Currently, the museum houses a collection of over 600,000 objects. The museum also acts as a research center and works closely with the Lok Virsa Museum. The museum is open to public everyday, except for Friday, from 10 am to 5 pm.[4] The museum is managed by the Pakistan Science Foundation, under the Ministry of Science and Technology.[5]
PMNH acquired a large whale shark which landed at Karachi Fish Harbour in 2012, according to PMNH. This whale shark had a length of about 40feet and weighed 16 tonnes. Its liver weighed about, the stomach was about, and the ovary had a weight of and had about 1500 eggs. The shark was seen on February 6, 2012, in the Gora Bari area, in the Pakistani territory of the Arabian Sea, by local fishermen. According to them, it was alive at that time but died before they started hauling it towards the sea shore. The fish was brought to Karachi Fish Harbour on February 7, 2012, and auctioned for Rs. 200,000. The Museum bought this shark and mounted it as a dried specimen. However, due to the lack of professional taxidermy skills and poor maintenance, the specimen is perishing quickly, despite being repainted and repaired several times.