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Turtles, pangolins, an alligator, insects – exhibition connects nature and people in the urban jungle of Hong Kong

Doors open at the first museum in Hong Kong dedicated to biodiversity – a project dear to the heart of scientist Benoit Guénard, who assembled its specimens

He sees it as particularly important in a densely urbanised city like Hong Kong where the connection with nature and its diversity may not be widely appreciated

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The Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum is the city’s first dedicated to wildlife, says its director, Benoit Guénard. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 3:15pm, 28 May 2021Updated: 3:15pm, 28 May 2021

Benoit Guénard is all smiles as he walks around the exhibition, a showcase of more than 10,000 species, the largest biological specimen collection in Hong Kong.

An associate professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU)’s school of biological sciences, French-born Guénard has every reason to be happy: it is the opening day of the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum.

Located in the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, at HKU in Pok Fu Lam on Hong Kong Island, it is the first museum in the city dedicated to biodiversity, and the culmination of years of hard work.

When Guénard arrived in Hong Kong, in 2014, he was surprised that there was no wildlife biobank, a type of repository for species’ samples for use in research.

Flocks of black-faced spoonbill (white) and grey heron (grey) are observed at the Hong Kong Wetland Park in Tin Shui Wai. Photo: SCMP

A copper-cheeked frog observed during Hong Kong’s City Nature Challenge.

“Being one of the region’s biodiversity hotspots, it seemed odd for a prosperous city like Hong Kong to not possess a structure dedicated to education about biodiversity and the preservation of the numerous species that can be found here while enhancing research,” says Guénard. “It didn’t have a large specimen collection displaying the diversity of species within Hong Kong and abroad so the public can fully realise the richness and beauty of the organisms that surround us.