The Division of Mammals at 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.
The Division of Reptiles and Amphibians maintains a collection that is worldwide in scope. The research collections contain over 200,000 catalogued lots representing approximately 435,000 individual specimens.
The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) is the center for the study of animal diversity on campus, focusing on the evolutionary origins of the planet’s animal species, the genetic information they contain and the communities and ecosystems they help form. Now an integral part of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB), the UMMZ houses world-class collections, containing more than 15 million specimens, span almost 200 years of regional and global biodiversity studies and that support a multi-faceted Departmental research and teaching program.