Museum of Zoology

Division of Mollusks The Mollusk Division of the Museum of Zoology is a collection of resources for people who conduct research on, or need information about, mollusks. The division contains one of the largest collections of freshwater mollusks in the world. It also has a respectable marine collection, and one of the top collections of land snails in the United States.

Division of Fishes The Division of Fishes of the Museum of Zoology is a research resource and teaching center dedicated to the study of fish evolution, phylogeny, distribution, ecology, and behavior. We have about 3.5 million catalogued specimens available for study. The collections are rich in specimens from the U.S., Mexico, Asia, Japan, the Neotropics, and Africa.

Division of Birds The Bird Division is a collection of resources for people who conduct research on or need information about birds. The research collections, with 215,000 bird specimens, is one of the largest in the world. The Bird Division also houses the expansive library of the Wilson Ornithological Society. The faculty, staff, and students conduct research on the evolutionary histories, behavior, ecology and conservation of a wide variety of birds using museum collections, molecular techniques, and field studies.

Division of Reptiles & Amphibians The Division of Reptiles & Amphibians maintains a collection that is worldwide in scope and presently, contains over 200,000 catalogued lots representing 435,000 individual specimens.

Division of Insects The Insect Division houses a world-class collection with over 4.5 million specimens from all over the globe. An emphasis on specific taxonomic groups has produced outstanding collections of the Acari, Orthoptera, and Odonata, and to a lesser extent, the Homoptera, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera.

Division of Mammals The Mammal Division of the Museum of Zoology was established in 1837, and has grown steadily to its current size, with over 150,000 specimens. An important feature of the mammal collection at the Museum of Zoology is our emphasis on non-traditional specimens; that is, preparations that go beyond or replace the traditional skin and skull.

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Recent News

Let’s Talk Birds with Dr. Brett Benz

Dr. Brett Benz is the Collection Manager for Birds and an Assistant Research Scientist at U-M’s Museum of Zoology. He shares how he’s working to digitize our egg collection and also highlights a bird specimen – donated by P.T. Barnum!

Michigan News Spotlight: U-M museums’ insect, plant collections on display at Toledo Museum of Art

The Museum of Zoology and Herbarium contributed specimens to the Toledo Museum of Art for the Rachel Ruysch exhibit.

all news

Research Feature

Faculty Publication Spotlight: Dr. L. Lacey Knowles in Nature Reviews Biodiversity

In this Review, the co-authors explore the coupled evolution of Amazonian rivers and biodiversity associated with terrestrial and seasonally flooded environments, integrating geological, climatic, ecological and genetic evidence.

Please Note: The Museum of Zoology is a research facility. It is not usually open to the public. Please refer to the Museum of Natural History website if you wish to visit.

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