UCM Bird Collection (Arctos)

Project name: Global Biodiversity Information Facility datasets

Dataset summary : Vertebrate Zoology in the CU Museum of Natural History is a biodiversity repository of more than 120,000 specimens from five taxa: Fishes, Amphibians and Reptiles (Herpetology), Birds, and Mammals. With the exception of birds, our collections are the largest collections of their kind in Colorado. Since our specimens document changes in biodiversity over the last 200 years, they are treasures of biological and historical significance. The geographic scope of our bird specimens is global, representing 38 countries. As in all of our collections, the emphasis is on Colorado species (over 80% represented) with material dating from the early 1800s to the present. Nearly 6,000 specimens were donated by the Colorado College Museum in Colorado Springs in the 1960s. This material includes the collection of Charles E. Aiken, a pioneer ornithologist in Colorado, and dates back to 1805. The Bird collection is also home to several specimens of iconic extinct species such as Passenger Pigeons and Carolina Parakeets.