Museum of Vertebrate Zoology | |
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Established | 1908 |
Location | University of California, Berkeley |
Type | Science museum |
Collection size | 640,000+ specimens |
Visitor figures | research only |
Director | Craig Moritz |
Curator | Rauri Bowie (birds), Carol Spencer( Herpetology), Eileen Lacey (Mammals) |
Website | Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Main Page |
The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is a natural history museum at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. The museum was founded by philanthropist Annie Montague Alexander in 1908. Alexander recommended zoologist Joseph Grinnell as museum director, a position he held until his death in 1939.[1]
The museum became a center of authority for the study of vertebrate biology and evolution on the West Coast, comparable to other major natural history museums in the United States.[1]
It has one of the nation's largest research collections of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, and the largest collection of any university museum.[2] [3] The museum is located on the UC Berkeley campus, in the Valley Life Sciences Building, on the 3rd floor, entrance at room 3101.