Our early Iranian forefathers conceived of the earth as a mother, of nature as sacred, and of pollution of the environment as sin; and we are proud of our early scholars - the contributions to natural history of al-Biruni, the medical research of Avicenna, the chemical and physiological discoveries of Razi, the mathematical groundwork of Omar Khayyam.
Hence an environmental ethic and concern for the natural sciences are very much parts of Iran's past. This tradition _ although perhaps in limbo for centuries -is reawakening and renewing its influences today. Serving as it does as a bridge between three continents; Asia, Africa and Europe. Iran has obvious responsibilities to itself and to the world at large to preserve and maintain the evidence of its long heritage of developing civilization, and to protect, enhance, and build upon it for the future-into which we are rushing at almost frightening speed.

NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR NATURAL HISTORY

In 1973, Iran's National Museum for Natural History -in Persian(=Farsi) :" Muzeh-e Melli-ye Tarikh-e Tabi'i" (MMTT)- was founded and now it is a part of the Department of the Environment as one of the President of the Republic's affiliated organizations. For purposes of planning and support , it began in effect as a staff division ; today , it is a semi-autonomous entity, a component under broad supervision of the Department's Natural Environment and Biodiversity Deputy.
The mission-and the goal of the Museum is to become a major institution which will serve as a source for public information and a center for scientific study and research activity .It is intended and anticipated that such a modern museum will stimulate advanced studies by Iranian and also foreign experts in all of the various disciplines of natural sciences and history.
With its concept and plan defined , the approach which has been adopted for the museum is to establish the basic outlines as quickly as possible , and to proceed from there -with all deliberate haste towards its development .
The museum has generated its own separate incipient disciplines, each designed and scheduled to grow into fully - staffed units. Focus in establishing , building , and maintaining museum collections necessarily is on the rich , varied , and largely unknown Iranian natural history phenomena.
The sections of Zoo-Archaeology and Paleo-Ecology should concentrate on amazing and analyzing evidence of the early human and hominid beings that once inhabited the country .
The Sections of Mamma logy , Ornithology , Herpetology , and Ichthyology have anthropological remains. The Entomology Section is devoted exclusively to Arthropod, and the remainder of living Iranian Invertebrate are handled by the Invertebrate Zoology Section. Their collections are growing especially concerning the Persian Gulf invertebrates. Fossils, rocks, and minerals form separate, but related, collection -nuclei within the Section of Geology and paleontology .These form bases for understanding the physical and biological prehistory of Iran . Herbarium is a new section that established in 1986 and has collected many samples especially from Department’s Reserves and recently (SEP. 1999) moved to Pardisan Park in a new building.
To stimulate as well as to facilitate its development ,the Museum has established educational and training programs which should designed to groom support staff with background and experience , which until now has not been sufficiently in the national scientific framework. These include a library of taxonomic, systematic, and natural history texts.
The Iran’s National Museum for Natural History has embarked on a number of exciting and ambitious programs These are designed to provide specimens, facts, data, and displays that will shed scientific light, and provide public information on several aspects of regional national history .
The foremost of these will be a major endeavor, to reopen on a thoroughly modern basis the classic Maragheh Miocene/Pliocene fossil beds , near lake Urmiah.
Following a preliminary surface survey in 1974 , excavations was done during of 1975 - 1978 and was stopped during the Revolution and war years , and has planned for the 3rd five year plan (2000-2004).
Concerted efforts in herpetology resulted in rapid accumulation of one of the world's largest collection of Iranian amphibians and reptiles. This such as on the snakes and lizards of Iran. Similar efforts in Mamma logy have begun, and give promise for a major world collection . Popular mammal and amphians guides were printed by DOE and Tehran University on the basis of the collections of the MMTT.
Building on a mounted display of mega fauna from most continents , the Museum is working now to develop an extensive Natural History Museum and exhibit program. For this, the latest techniques and materials of collections, identifying, preserving taxidermy, design, display, casting, and painting are employed .
As with any such museum, the National Museum for Natural History has begun publishing scientific, technical, and popular leaflets, reports and analyses. These are based on its present resources , as well as the input of cooperating experts and specialists . It is planned to produce regular museum bulletins , monographs, and periodicals . This informative material , geared to various levels of interest , is intended to fill many current deficiencies or voids in natural history information . In one important respect , the youth of Iran's museum is a significant advantage , for it is possible to acquire the most advanced equipment and to apply the newest techniques and materials at every stage of development.
For example , electronic data management will be applied from the outset. This will provide data storage and retrieval , and will meld the activities of all sections into a coordinated common effort. Among other innovations, automatic data processing and satellite communications systems will enable MMTT to be integrated into the expanding global network of natural science, history and art museums, research institutions, and universities. Since December 1998 we accept the Clearing House Mechanism responsibility in MMTT and start translation and distribution of more interesting texts as WEB pages. These pages now are available in www.irandoe.org address.
Sophisticated equipment and procedures-such as scanning electron microscope and computer terminals, operated by trained staff will allow precise taxonomic and systematic analysis, based on current physical, chemical and statistical methods. Researchers and scholars will have at hand major preserved collections and samples of Iran's fauna and geology , and also will have immediate access to modern physiology, anatomy, histology, osteology, and specimen-preparation laboratories.
Already , the fledgling Museum has attracted experts from all over the world that some of them have spent varying periods of time working with our museum in the field and in the laboratory in the past.
The displays and exhibits of the Museum are designed to stimulate the interest , to increase the knowledge , and to influence the opinions of the Iranian public concerning its heritage of natural history and its responsibilities towards it .
Ultimately, the Iranian National Museum for Natural History will become an integral part of the Department's revolutionary total, Pardisan Eco-park, in the capital city of Tehran .
There, it is anticipated that modern facilities with adequate space for collections , laboratories , offices , and general work will stimulate and sustain continued advanced studies in the natural sciences.

IRAN National History Museums History

The National Museum of Natural History (MMTT) was founded in 1973 as a part of the DOE. The construction of a new building covering more than 45,000 m² began on World Museums Day in 1999 with the theme of The Pleasure of Discovery at the Pardisan Park in Tehran.

Pardisan Eco-Park
Pardisan (Paradise) Park is a multi-purpose complex covering more than 270 hectares located in north-west Tehran. This complex is primarily an educational, research and cultural center with the objective of creating suitable facilities for the study of the environment in all its different aspects. However, in addition to scientific activities, facilities have been created in Pardisan Park for visitors to spend time in an inspiring, educational atmosphere. In other words, this Park is a multipurpose project, providing education in fun and relaxed surroundings aimed at increasing public awareness about natural environment. Pardisan Park contains the Biodiversity Museum, a wildlife park, a theatre, playgrounds and several other facilities.

Biodiversity Museum Of IRAN

In the 1rst step of the implementation of such a project, the Biodiversity Museum of Iran (BMI) has been established and made open to public visitors. The Museum consist of several parts and sections including:
1- A section demonstrating the Persian Gulf ecosystem,
2- Paleontology part of the Museum which demonstrates different ages,
3- Different divisions containing species from Iran as well as all continents.
The museum also includes several other modern tuition, educational and information systems, such as touch screen monitors, cyber screen section containing sound effects of different species, information about their habitats and other related information. It also incorporates several different kinds of educational entertainments for kids and young collegiate. Side galleries are here to further inform enthusiast visitors.
Library and scientific document center
Due to necessity of an equipped and up-to-date library, the Natural History Museum of Iran has established a scientific and educational center in 1984 to:
1- Serve visitors with different kind of books and other related documents;
2- A reliable internet connection;
3- Balance the level the technical environmental information with the world of today;
4- Provide necessary facilities in existing resources for users;
5- Gather actual needs of experts of different fields and to provide them
Herbarium of Natural History Museum of Iran

Established around 1970, the herbarium of Natural History Museum is one of the major references in the modern and systematic research on different plants in protected areas. It incorporates a database of information on specimens in more than 20 fields, generating updated reports on geographic distribution maps.

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Insects Unit of Natural History Museum of Iran
Birds Unit of Natural History Museum of Iran

Birds have an oldness about 150 million years that allocate the most part of wild life.

Among 9600 species birds in the world only 500 species identify in IRAN .The ornithology’s part in the MMTT try to introduce birds to people and attempt that to show what part did birds play in the world?

The ornithologists in the museum gather the information about birds .They gather samples of species that need .

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Mollusks Unit of Natural History Museum of Iran
Fossils Unit of Natural History Museum of Iran

Biosafety Laboratory

As the preservation of genetic diversity is the most important aim of the Department of Environment, and also the Islamic Republic of Iran is a Party to The Biosafety Protocol under The Convention on Biological Diversity, it is necessary to identify and conserve the gene pool. For further achievements in this objective, the Department of Environment has established a Laboratory, in 2001. To further equip the laboratory, the Natural History Museum of Iran, started to buy the necessary equipments, and incorporated experts in this field. In march 2003, equipments began to be been installed by experts and professionals in order to:
• Identification of the genetic relationships between species and subspecies,
• Classification of wild life species and subspecies,
• Study and identification of genetic divergence in wild life and the risk of their extinction.