a state scientific research and educational institution. Founded in 1907 by the Russian biologist A. F. Kots, attached to the Advanced Courses for Women in Moscow; an independent institution since 1922.
The Darwin Museum collects, studies, and preserves exhibits that reflect the history of the theory of evolution, the basic principles of C. Darwin’s theory, and the contemporary achievements of Darwinism. It also organizes exhibitions and disseminates scientific information. The museum has at its disposal unique collections in the areas of variability. heredity, artificial selection, fur breeding, and anthropogenesis. It possesses valuable collections of stuffed fur-bearing animals, grouse, albinos, rare examples of extinct animals, and the most complete collection in Europe of hummingbirds and birds of paradise, as well as sculpture, pictures, and scientific reconstructions executed by V. A. Vatagin, A. N. Komarov, M. M. Gerasimov, and others. Those who helped to develop the collections of the Darwin Museum include Soviet biologists M. A. Menzbir. P. P. Sushkin, M. M. Zavadovskii. N. N. Ladygina-Kots, and G. P. Dement’ev.