Today, the AMNH collection of fossil mammals is recognized as a national and international resource for research and teaching in paleomammalogy, systematics, and evolutionary biology. Extensive use of the collection is made onsite by staff researchers, visiting scientists, and graduate and postdoctoral students, and additionally through loans of specimens to researchers at other domestic and international institutions. The collection currently receives around 50 professional visitors a year, who average approximately 5 days per visit, and makes about 30 specimen loans to other institutions, averaging 10 specimens per loan.

In recent years, curatorial efforts have focused on upgrades to specimen housing, including the replacement of substandard cabinetry and shelving; making specimen data and digital images available to the wider public via the worldwide web; and improving the standard of environmental monitoring and pest control throughout the collections. The Division has collaborated successfully with the AMNH’s Natural Sciences Conservation Lab on a number of projects aimed at improving the standard of preventive conservation in the collection, and has received grant funding for collection improvements from NASA and the National Science Foundation.

You can explore some of these projects in more detail by following the links below.

Type Rehousing	Perissodactyls
Building 3A Project	Digital Imaging