Gridskipper

At the eastern end of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Claude Nature looks like many of the other boutiques that surround it, until you look more closely. Peering into its windows, you can see artful arrangements of… shells, jewel-like butterflies, and fossils. Once inside, there are birds of all sizes perched on shelves, and the front counter is guarded by a pair of mounted animal heads. While these items on display are available for purchase, Claude Nature also offers taxidermy services, as well as the materials necessary for amateur butterfly and insect enthusiasts to mount their own collections. (photo) [link]

Begun in 1831 as a business dealing in entomological specimens and providing taxidermy services to hunters and natural science museums, Deyrolle is now an incredible storehouse of animal and insect specimens that… makes visitors feel as if they're entering a museum rather than a retail store. Unlike a museum, however, most everything on display is for sale; you can even rent the stuffed animals if you'd like (usually for TV or film production). After being acquired by the luxury gardening goods company, Le Prince Jardinier, in 2001, the Deyrolle building was completely renovated and now features a gardening boutique on the ground floor, while the animal and insect collections have pride of place on the upper floor. (photo) [link]

Built in 1898 for the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1900, this two-story gallery adjacent to the Jardin des Plantes is now part of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Besides its large collection of… vertebrate and invertebrate fossils (including those of dinosaurs), the museum has nearly 1,000 skeletons of birds, reptiles, fish, humans, and other mammals on display in the Galerie d'anatomie comparée on the ground floor. [link]

Located on the southern end of the Jardin des Plantes, the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution is a stunning showcase for the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle's extensive collection of zoological specimens. The galerie… de Zoologie, as it was originally known, was first constructed in 1889, around the same time as the Eiffel Tower, but in 1994 underwent major renovations. The resulting gallery space is an elegant backdrop to the museum's exhibits, which illustrate the incredible diversity of plant and animal life resulting from the evolutionary process. [link]

This boutique, part of the Etablissements Julien Aurouze, an extermination company founded in 1872, has an unusual and compelling window display that effectively illustrates the services of the business, while conjuring… up a gruesome reminder of the past. Strung up in the window are perfectly preserved rats captured by Aurouze in the early part of the 20th century when the Les Halles district of Paris was still a bustling wholesale food market. This unique window display makes a cameo appearance (albeit in animated form) in the film Ratatouille, a fitting warning to any rat who dares to cross paths with an Aurouze employee. [link]

As we noted, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature has recently reopened, offering visitors a look at the extensive collection… of François and Jacqueline Sommer, mainly comprising art and artifacts related to hunting. The museum has rooms dedicated to various animals (e.g., wolves, horses, dogs), as well as a trophy room (Salle des Trophées) with various taxidermy specimens on display. [link]