Gallery IX (Mangroves, Beaches and Intertidal Zones)
Gallery IX (Mangroves, Beaches and Intertidal Zones) of the National Museum of Natural History highlights the different types of coastal ecosystems such as beach forest, intertidal zone, mud flat, sandy beach, sea grass bed and mangrove forest.
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This exhibition features diverse marine as well as terrestrial organisms that are commonly found in the vast coastal ecosystems of the Philippines.
L-R: Sandy Beaches, Tidal Pools and Rocky Shores
L-R: Seagrass Meadows and Mudflats
It also showcases the significant floral diversity of the intertidal zones such as sea grass and identified mangrove species with emphasis on its conservation campaigns.
It also educates people in the importance of such trees in our environment for us and the animals (crabs, shrimp, mollusks and fish) that use mangroves as their main habitat.
Nipa and Bakawan Fruits
L-R: Sargassum ilicifolium and Halimeda macrolaba Decalsne
The gallery features the life-size diorama of a mangrove forest, various taxidermied species commonly found in such environment, such as the Little Heron (Butorides striatus), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Hawkbill turtle (Erecmochelys imbricata) and Mangrove crab (Scylla serrata), and sea creatures of the so-called intertidal zone.
Little Heron
Little Egret
FYI: Historians have long contended that one of the plausible origins of the name Manila could have come from the phrase may nilad meaning “where nilad is. The nilad (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea) is a mangrove tree which once grew abundantly along Manila Bay and the banks of the Pasig River.
Nilad (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea)
Gallery IX (Mangroves, Beaches and Intertidal Zones): 3/F, Bloomberry North Exhibition Hall, National Museum of Natural History, Agrifina Circle, Rizal Park, T.M. Kalaw cor. Gen. Luna Sts., Manila. Open Tuesdays – Sundays, 9 AM to 12 noon (cut off time is 11 AM) and 1 to 4 PM (cut off time is 3 PM). Tel: 82981100 local 3000 and 85277889. E-mail: cmvod@nationalmuseum.ph or inquiry@nationalmuseumph.gov.ph. Visitors shall be limited to 100 per museum per session. Visitors are required to pre-book online at https://reservation.nationalmuseum.gov at least a day before the visit. Confirmation of booking will be sent through email.Group reservations are limited to five (5) persons only. Walk-in visitors will NOT be accommodated. Coordinates: 14°34′59.9″N 120°58′55.9″E.