The Pakistan Museum of Natural History, located in the university campus area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, is the country's premier natural science museum, covering geology, palaeontology, botany, and zoology with particular depth in the natural history of the South Asian subcontinent. The palaeontology collection includes significant Pakistani finds — the fossil record of Balochistan and the Indus Basin has yielded important specimens of early cetaceans (ancestral whales), early primates, and large mammals that once roamed the subcontinent in the Eocene and Oligocene periods.
The museum is not polished to Western natural history museum standards — some displays are dated, labels are inconsistent, and the building itself is worn — but the underlying collection is genuinely significant and the specialist content rewards patience. For those interested in the natural history of the subcontinent, particularly the evolutionary story of Pakistan's endemic fauna and the geological record of the region, this is the most substantial resource in the country. The museum is open most days except national holidays; entry fees are nominal.