The Museum of Zoology serves as the nucleus for the study of animal diversity at the University of Michigan, focusing on the evolutionary origins of the planet's animal species, the genetic information they contain and the ecosystems they form. It houses some of the finest zoological research collections in the world, including comprehensive representation from all primary global ecosystems. Such collections provide the best tangible record we have of life on Earth and constitute a crucial resource for use in research, conservation and education.
Featured Publications
Slow snails, fast genes: Predatory snails refine venoms through continuous gene duplication Dan Chang & Thomas Duda, two University of Michigan evolutionary biologists report that their reconstruction of the evolutionary history of these genes has revealed rapid and continuous gene duplication over the last 11 million years that is coupled with the accelerated rates of conotoxin evolution.
More: Molecular Biology and Evolution
Image Credit: Jeanette Johnson
UMMZ Grants & Awards
Peregrine Falcons!
We have been monitoring a nesting pair at U of M's Carillon tower. (more)
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Please Note: The Museum of Zoology is a research facility and is not open to the public.
News & Events
EEB graduate student Qixin He has been awarded a Doctorate Dissertation Improvement Grant
The grant is for $15,000 from the National Science Foundation from June 1, 2012 for two years. She studies in the lab of Professor L. Lacey Knowles.
(more)
U-M Museum of Zoology receives shipment of rare seabirds for study
The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology recently received the carcasses of 15 rare Hawaiian birds called Newell's shearwaters.
(more)
Celia Churchill is the recipient of this year's Donald W. Tinkle Scholarship Award
The Tinkle Committee, composed of Barry OConnor (chair), Bill Fink and Phil Myers, praised the quality of all of the applicants and reported that they
found Celia's "research to be exciting, her publications accepted in journals with wide audiences, and her service to the department and the museum to be outstanding".
Professor Knowles president-elect of the Society of Systematic Biologists
The objective of the SSB is the advancement of the science of systematic biology in all its aspects of theory, principles, methodology, and practice. Her term began January 1, 2012. (more)
Five million specimens to move!
Over the next eight months, about 5 million specimens from the U-M Museum of Zoology's "wet" collection will be moved from the Ruthven Museums Building on central campus to a new off-campus storage facility.
We have put together a video showing work in progress.
Three liquid nitrogen freezers chill at UMMZ
Three large capacity freezers for tissue storage have been added to the museum's facilities.
Funded by Priscilla Tucker's $178,000 Collections Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation, the freezers will be used to store tissue samples. An open house will
be held during Friday coffee hour on Dec. 9
(more)
We are moving into a new collections facility!
At left Doug Nelson & Taehwan Lee are inspecting the assembly of the new ethanol collection shelving in the Varsity Drive facility. The move will commence in December 2011.
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079