Fossils and minerals don’t quicken your pulse? Well, how about Oskar, the world’s tallest mounted dinosaur and star of the Museum für Naturkunde (Museum of Natural History; museumfuernaturkunde.berlin; adult/concession €11/5). Or maybe have a gander at old Tristan Otto, one of the world's best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons? He's the superstar among the Jurassic lineup. Easy to miss but totally worth finding is the ultra-rare Archaeopteryx, a petite fossil that bridges the evolutionary gap between dinos and birds, tucked into the far-left corner.
Elsewhere you can journey deep into space and find out why zebras are striped. A favorite among the taxidermied animals is polar bear Knut, whose birth at Zoo Berlin in 2006 caused worldwide "Knutmania."
Unexpected highlights include a creepy but artistically illuminated gallery of ethanol-preserved creatures used for research and another starring massively magnified insect models - wait until you see the anatomy of an ordinary house fly!
