The Zoological Collections

Birds

The collection contains 1000+ bird skins with about 100 specimens dating back to the 1800s. Most bird specimens are from Eastern North America but there are also dozens of representative species from the continents of Asia, South America, and Africa.

Mammals 

The mammal collection holds a few hundred dry skins representing about 50 different species collected almost exclusively in North America. There is a companion small mammal skull collection to highlight the skeletal structure of many common eastern U.S. species.

Herps

The collection currently has fewer than 100 herps preserved as wet specimen. Most are from the eastern United States. We unfortunately lost nearly 100 specimens (especially small newts) during the COVID pandemic when the university was shut down and alcohol could not be refilled.

Fish

There are ~250 wet specimens of fish representing ~50 species. Around 2022, The NJ Pinelands Commission donated a set of voucher fish sampled over several decades from four major watersheds in South Jersey. This donation helps support the goal of teaching state-focused fish ecology.

Eggs/Nests

Dr. Charlie Leck, a longtime SEBS professor of ornithology curated and donated an extensive personal egg collection before his death in 2023.  It represents several hundred species through 1000+ egg specimens.

Inverts 

There are 1000+ invert specimens representing both marine and terrestrial environments. About half the collection exists as prepared slides to show invertebrate morphology. The rest are preserved both as wet specimens and dried, pinned specimens (mainly insects).

Skeletons

Dr. Kathleen Scott donated her mammalian skeleton teaching collection upon her retirement from the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at Rutgers. It contains around 200 skeletons representing dozens of species. Most were salvaged either from roadkill or from zoos in NY and Chicago.

Below is a table with approximations for the number of specimens in different taxonomic groupings

Note: These are approximate numbers. These counts are constantly improving through curation efforts and specimen donations

Taxa avl. 
(specimen count)

Inverts     
(500+)

Herps       
(100+)

Fish           
(250+)

Mammals 
(430+)

Birds*    
(1000+)

Eggs/Nests* 
(1000+)

Orders

58

4

24

9

20+

*

Families

96

15-30

31

27

*

*

Genera

112

29

35

49

*

*

Species

123

39

38

54

*

*

Regions

N. Am.

N. Am.

N. & S. Am.

N. Am.

N. & S. Am. Africa   Europe

N. Am.

* recent taxonomic updates have not yet been incorporated into the data table