In the department there are important museums located in the capital city, Neuquén, and an important paleontologic museum located in Villa el Chocón managed by Ruben Carolini, who discovered one of the most important pieces in exhibition at the museum, the Giganotosaurus carolinii in 1995.
The primitive snake Najash lived here as well, along with turtles, fish, frogs, and cladotherian mammals.
He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of the Argentinosaurus (possibly the world's largest land animal ever) in 1993, and the Giganotosaurus (one of the largest known terrestrial carnivores), in 1996 among other landmark South American dinosaurs.