A study in vertebrate zoology (sort of)

Vertebrate zoology is the the study of animals with a backbone (such as mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians) and to be quite honest, I didn't spend any time studying them, instead I recently toured the new University of Utah Museum of Natural History's back hallways, offices, storage rooms, and other areas generally not accessed by the general public with the museum curator.

We started in the wet specimen room, with creepy crawlies in glass jars of every size. I saw one 5 gallon jar completely full of snakes! GROSS The cool part of the viewing this inventory was seeing specimens collected all across Utah and lands elsewhere.  Some of the collection was dated at the turn of the century (the 1900's) and it impressed me that scientists over 100 years ago saw the value in proper record keeping.  I should have been a scientist (but not in the creepy crawlies).

The dry specimens were less icky to look at, but the collection had a distinct odor associated to the preservation and content of the DEAD ANIMALS.  It was amazing to look at a tray of over a dozen field mice with such ignorance.....No, I could not tell that they were different species.....this is certainly not my field of expertise.

After a stroll through the research laboratories we headed to the museum for a first hand look at the exhibits through the eyes of a man who have devoted more than 30 years studying the origins and preservation of biological diversity, both regionally and globally.  His current research on mammals of the Great Basin uses historical data from museum collections to determine the direct implications for future conservation efforts and the preservation of biodiversity.

I feel really fortunate that Dr. ER was willing to give me a tour of this wonderful facility that made its debut in Utah late last month, and look forward to visiting the museum many more times in the future.