Preview: Israel's Steinhardt Museum of Natural History (12 images)

The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History opens for preview at Tel Aviv University in Israel. The museum's collection includes Israel's national natural history collection, containing over 5.5 million specimens of fauna and flora that tell the story of biodiversity from different periods in Israel and the Middle East.

Visitors look at skeletons and stuffed animals on display. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

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Items featured in the museum include species that have become extinct in the Middle East, including the last bear from 1916, an Asiatic cheetah from 1911, the last crocodile from the Taninim River and predatory birds. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

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The museum will include eight permanent exhibitions displaying items that have been collected since the end of the 19th century. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

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Every year 500 million birds migrate through Israel due to its location between Africa, Europe and Asia. In "The Great Bird Migration" exhibition, 65 species of birds hang in the entrance hall as a display of their yearly migration. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

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