That knowledge transforms when we see something real
After four years of silence, a museum tucked inside the Brasília Zoo has reopened its doors, returning nearly two hundred preserved specimens — bones, taxidermied forms, and creatures suspended in liquid — to the eyes of the living. Among them rest the skeleton of a giraffe named Yvelize and the remains of Nely, an Asian elephant who was the very first animal to call this institution home. The reopening, part of a broader renewal of the zoo's infrastructure, invites visitors not merely to observe nature but to reckon with time itself — with what endures, what is lost, and what a preserved life can still teach the living.
- A beloved public institution had gone four years without one of its most meaningful spaces, leaving a collection of nearly 200 biological specimens — including the bones of animals that shaped the zoo's own history — unseen and inaccessible.
- The reopening arrives as part of a coordinated push to modernize the zoo, with new bathrooms, a sports court, and replaced perimeter fencing all unveiled on the same Saturday morning.
- Zoo director Wallison Couto called the moment a 'giant achievement' while already signaling that further renovations and expansions are on the horizon, framing this as a beginning rather than an endpoint.
- State officials cast the museum not as a cabinet of curiosities but as a living site of memory and transformation — a place where generations meet, where knowledge shifts something inside a person.
- The museum is now open and positioned as a cornerstone of environmental education and family experience in Brasília's cultural life, with the zoo's leadership betting that preserved lives can still move the living.
On a Saturday morning in mid-May, the Brasília Zoo unsealed a space that had been closed since 2022. The Natural Sciences Museum — home to nearly two hundred biological specimens arranged in glass cases and on display stands — was ready again for visitors.
The collection speaks in the full language of preservation: taxidermied animals held in careful stillness, skeletons mounted on stands, specimens suspended in liquid and in time. Among the most significant are the skeleton of Yvelize, a giraffe who lived at the zoo until 2018, and the remains of Nely, an Asian elephant who was the very first animal to inhabit the Brasília Zoo — now reduced, as all things eventually are, to bone and memory.
The reopening was not a solitary event. On the same morning, the zoo also inaugurated a new sports court, restored its main bathroom facilities, and completed the replacement of its external fencing — all part of a broader effort to refresh the institution's infrastructure. Zoo director-president Wallison Couto called the museum's return a 'giant achievement' and made clear that more improvements were already in view.
For the state officials present, the museum carried meaning beyond its specimens. Environmental secretary Rafael Santana spoke of the zoo as a place where memory lives — where adults return with their children and feel the pull of their own childhoods, where time collapses in front of a display case. Secretary for Women's Affairs Gisele Ferreira brought her own mother to the reopening and framed the museum as a point of contact: between people and the natural world, between generations, between knowledge and the quiet transformation it can produce.
The specimens in their cases — the giraffe, the elephant, the countless others — had waited four years to be seen again. Now they are waiting once more, this time for visitors who will stand before them and feel something shift.
On a Saturday morning in mid-May, the Brasília Zoo opened its doors to a space that had been sealed off for four years. The Natural Sciences Museum, tucked within the zoo's grounds, was ready again—a repository of nearly two hundred biological specimens arranged in glass cases and display stands, each one a fragment of the institution's own history.
The collection spans the full vocabulary of natural preservation. There are taxidermied animals, their fur and features held in place by the careful work of conservators. There are skeletons, stripped to bone and mounted on stands. There are specimens suspended in liquid, suspended in time. Among them is the skeleton of Yvelize, a giraffe that lived at the zoo until 2018. And there is Nely, an Asian elephant—not just any specimen, but the first animal to ever inhabit the Brasília Zoo, now reduced to bone and memory.
Wallison Couto, the zoo's director-president, stood in the reopened space and called it a "giant achievement." He was already looking forward, already imagining what else could come. "There's a lot of good things coming," he said, his gaze moving past the present moment toward future renovations and expansions. The museum's reopening was not an isolated event but part of a larger push to refresh the zoo's infrastructure. On the same Saturday morning, the zoo also cut the ribbon on a new sports court and reopened its main bathroom facilities. The external fencing around the entire property had been replaced.
For Rafael Santana, the state's environmental secretary, the museum represented something beyond specimens and displays. He spoke of the zoo as a place where memory lives—where people return with their children and remember their own childhoods, where they stand in front of an enclosure or a display case and feel the weight of time and connection. "When we come here, we remember moments with our parents and friends and feel emotion visiting each place," he said. The museum, he suggested, would deepen that experience, would give visitors another reason to feel something when they walked through the gates.
Gisele Ferreira, the state's secretary for women's affairs, brought her mother to the reopening. She framed the museum as a point of contact—between people and the natural world, between generations, between knowledge and transformation. "When we visit a space like this, we have the opportunity for contact with nature, and that knowledge transforms," she said. It was a modest claim, really, but it carried weight: that seeing something real, something preserved and presented with care, could change how a person understood their place in the world.
The museum had been closed since 2022. Four years is a long time for a space to sit empty, for its collection to remain unseen. Now it was open again, and the zoo was signaling that this was only the beginning of a larger restoration. The specimens in their cases—the giraffe, the elephant, the countless others—were waiting for visitors who would stand before them and remember, learn, and feel something shift.
Citações Notáveis
There's a lot of good things coming— Wallison Couto, zoo director-president
When we visit a space like this, we have the opportunity for contact with nature, and that knowledge transforms— Gisele Ferreira, state secretary for women's affairs
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a zoo need a natural sciences museum? Aren't the living animals enough?
The museum holds the zoo's own history. When an animal dies, it doesn't just disappear—it becomes a way to teach, to remember. Nely, the first elephant here, is now a skeleton. That skeleton tells a story about the zoo itself.
Four years is a long time to keep a museum closed. What happened?
The source doesn't say. But the reopening now, with new bathrooms and a sports court and fresh fencing, suggests the zoo was undergoing a larger renovation. The museum was part of that work.
The officials who spoke seemed to emphasize memory and emotion. Is that what the museum is really for?
It's both. Yes, it's a place where families remember their own visits, their own childhoods. But it's also an educational space—nearly two hundred specimens in different states of preservation, from taxidermied animals to skeletons to liquid-preserved materials. That's serious natural history work.
What's the significance of Yvelize and Nely specifically?
Nely was the first animal the zoo ever had—the founding inhabitant. Yvelize lived here until 2018. They're not random specimens. They're the zoo's own biography, preserved in bone.
Does the reopening signal that the zoo is stable now, or is it still in transition?
The director said there's "a lot of good things coming." So this is a milestone, but not an ending. The zoo is signaling momentum, more work ahead.