Biological Museum
Live snakes, scorpions.
Sturm — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fernando nunes — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Governo do Estado de São Paulo — CC BY 2.0
Instituto Butantan is a biomedical research centre in Butantã, western São Paulo, founded by the physician Vital Brazil on 23 February 1901 in response to an outbreak of bubonic plague in Santos. It is now Latin America's largest producer of serums, vaccines and biopharmaceuticals, and is famous for its venomous snakes, spiders and scorpions, whose venom it extracts to make antivenoms. Its grounds open to visitors as the Parque da Ciência, with several museums on one ticket: the Biological Museum, the first of them, in a 1920s stable, with live snakes, spiders and scorpions in enclosures that recreate their habitats; the Vaccine Museum; the Microbiology Museum; and the Historical Museum. US President Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1912. Tickets are R$10 (R$5 for children over 7 and students), free for children up to 7 and visitors over 60, and the grounds themselves are free. The museums open Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-16:45, with tickets sold until 16:00, paid in cash or by Pix.
Live snakes, scorpions.
How serums work.
Free grounds.
Butantã district, western São Paulo
Yes, the Biological Museum's live snakes and scorpions fascinate children, and entry is free up to age 7.