a biodiversity storeroom

Via SciTechDaily – a trip through a library of mammalian biodiversity! This is a video tour through a ‘bone room’ & a ‘skins room’ belonging to the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California at Berkley. It looks like a fascinating place to visit (although the sight of the skins & furs was a little close to the heart for me at the moment), but the video is the closest most of us will get as there’s no public access.

Nor is this ‘just’ a museum – as the original ‘Wired’ article says, it’s a premier research institution. Scientists there can use the museum’s contents to study biodiversity, both at the whole-organism level and – using DNA technology – at the genetic level. Plus the material can be tested for things like heavy metals, to get a picture of human impacts on the environment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *