Welcome to the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Have you ever visited a natural history museum? What kinds of things did you see while you were there? One thing you may have noticed is how often different specimens, such as animals, are grouped together. Sometimes they are grouped by where they live, other times by specimen type. All the specimens in the museum form part of different collections.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History showcases specimens from many Harvard University collections. In the following video you’ll learn about one of the many collections in The Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, or MCZ. As you watch, think about:

• What kinds of groups of animals are found within this collection?
• What do the people that work with the collection do?
• How is this collection used?

Herpetology is the branch of zoology that focuses on the study of reptiles and amphibians. In this activity, we will take a closer look at different species within our museum collection to better understand evolutionary relationships.

In this activity you will:

• Use the MCZ database to study real specimens from the collection
• Use morphological features to help you identify the animals you study
• Make an argument about what kind of animals you have seen using claims, evidence and reasoning