The founder of the museum is Stasys Gliaudys, who has been collecting museum exhibits since 1974 and is still working on it. The Nature Museum was founded in September, 2000, commemorating the 40 years anniversary of the Faculty of Pedagogy. On December 18th, 2013, commemorating the jubilee of the long-time faculty teacher, founder and nurturer of the Botanical Garden and Nature Museum of Šiauliai University, honorary citizen of the city of Šiauliai, Stasys Gliaudys, the Nature Museum was given the name of Stasys Gliaudys.
The museum with this purpose is unique in Northern Lithuania. The museum displays wildlife exhibits collected during several decades; many of them reflect Lithuanian nature. The museum has both scientific and educational value. In total, the museum accommodates over 4000 exhibits. 73 species and shapes of sponges and cnidarians, even 889 species of insects (including 534 species of just butterflies, the number of mollusc species and variations is even 1011) are demonstrated here. The museum has an abundant exposition of birds – even 182 species. Visitors can see 39 species of sea stars and sea urchins, 46 species of fish, amphibians and reptiles in the museum. In addition to the named representatives of the animal world, the museum also exhibits crustaceans, arachnids, centipedes and others. There are also representatives of exotic wildlife (warm seas) in the museum too. The exposition displays housing units of birds and insects – nests and nestboxes. All of the museum exhibits are displayed in a systematic manner, starting with a sponge, representing the simplest structure, and ending with mammals. Many of the names of museum exhibits are written in Latin and Lithuanian languages, Lithuanian Red Litst animals are marked with red dots. Museum exhibits mainly reflect biodiversity of Lithuania and the region of Northern Lithuania. The aim of the museum is to help its visitors to get better familiarised with the surrounding wildlife system and its diversity because respect for and love of nature comes only through cognition. The museum has a dual purpose: it is both a learning resource of the university and a public space for people sharing the educational interest. The museum is a place of theoretical classes and laboratory works of natural sciences. At other times the museum is visited by pupils, pre-schoolers and adults. From the foundation of the museum until now, the museum was visited by over 8000 visitors. The main visitors of the museum are pre-schoolers, primary class pupils and teachers of the city of Šiauliai and Šiauliai region. Many primary class pupils see animals exhibited in the Nature Museum of Šiauliai University for the first time, they carefully listen to the educator’s stories and willingly discuss about the animal world representatives that they have seen. The museum is also visited by guests from abroad – representatives of more than 30 countries have already been here.
The information is prepared in accordance with methodological teaching aids of H.Volodka and V.Lukavičienė (2009) „Gyvūnijos pasaulis: mūsų džiaugsmas ir rūpestis“. Šiauliai: Šiaurės Lietuva.
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