The exhibition “Beware, Toxic!” is another unusual exhibition of the Museum of Natural History in Belgrade, which presents the phenomenon of natural poison as a unique phenomenon in the living world.
The exhibition explains the appearance of different poisons in nature, their composition and mode of action, the action of antidotes, as well as the phenomenon of certain animals who eat other toxic organisms.
The use and abuse of poisons from nature has been present for a long time in the history of civilization. There are many records from ancient times in all cultures of the time (from Mesopotamian, through Egyptian, Greek and Roman, to Chinese) that testify about this practice. Modern times have brought the widespread production and use of a variety of synthetic poisons, which are used for medical and pharmaceutical purposes.
The exhibition presents poisonous species of funguses, plants and animals (insects, centipeds, spiders, scorpions, amphibians, reptiles, mammals). Rarely exposed and unusual exhibits are presented, in the form of herbarium, taxidermy and liquid preparations and imprints of poisonous plants, animals and funguses, and a special attraction of the exhibition is the segment with live exotic scorpions and spiders.