The Lausanne Vivarium is really more of a zoo than a museum, with its permanent exhibition displaying more than 200 living animals, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, amphibians, scorpions and tarantulas. In addition, temporary exhibitions lasting two to three months focus on the world of chameleons, rattlesnakes or even the strange and feared scorpion, one of the planet’s oldest inhabitants.

To teach visitors – including many school groups – about indigenous reptiles, a covered outdoor learning trail has been created. It introduces visitors to snakes, wall lizards, European pond terrapins and various species of Batrachia. The advantage of this path is that it reconstructs the actual living conditions of native reptiles, particularly with the changing of seasons and hibernation periods. It is also a sort of refuge and home for a number of abandoned or injured indigenous animals that the Vivarium welcomes year after year.