About the Museum

*History and Mission

The Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, or Hito-to Shizen-no Hakubutsukan (or Hitohaku) in Japanese, was established by the Hyogo Prefectural Government in October 1992. The missions of our museum are to promote greater awareness of the value, beauty and dignity of the natural environment around us, and to achieve harmonious co-existence between nature and mankind.

*Organization

The museum staff consists of two groups; one accommodates researchers and office workers belonging to the Board of Education, Hyogo Prefectural Government. The other group encompasses faculty members (i.e., professors and instructors) belonging to The Section of Nature and Environment, Institute of Natural and Environmental Sciences, The University of Hyogo, which is also housed in the museum building. While engaging themselves in research of their own themes and the in education of students at The Graduate School of Human Science and Environment, they are also involved in various activities of the museum as its joint-appointment staff are in close cooperation with the above-mentioned full-time staff of the museum.

*Research Activities

More than 30 researchers of petrology , topography, paleontology, plant and animal taxonomy, entomology, plant and animal ecology, landscape design, urban planning work in our museum. Their works have been reflected in the Red Data book, the prevention plan for alien plant and animal incursion, and the ecological plan in our prefecture.
Dinosaur fossils were discovered in the Sasayama Group in Tamba City in 2006, and excavations have since been carried out at multiple sites by researchers and volunteers. In 2014, Tambatitanis amicitiae was described as a new taxon, followed more recently by Sasayamagnomus saegusai and Hypnovenator matsubaraetoheorum. Our museum exhibits several well-preserved fossils, including those of dinosaurs, other vertebrates, and various organisms.

*Collections

Our museum houses extensive collections of 152,000 geological and 2,019,000 biological specimens which include 1,310,000 insects, 68,000 animals, 641,000 plants, as well as more than 26,000 photographs and recordings. Our herbarium (HYO) is also listed in. Index Herbarium. We also have a "Gene Bank" for endangered plants. Seeds of the endangered plant species are kept in refrigeration and living plants are kept in the greenhouse.