Official address:
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History USNM
Division of Mammals, MRC-108,
Smithsonian Institution
Washington DC 20560-0108.
U.S.A.
Phone: (202)357-1920
Fax: (202)786-2979.
Internet Web-site
Curator:
The National Museum of Natural History houses one of the most important collections of mammals in the world. The collection is referenced in the scientific literature by the acronym USNM, derived from the former name United States National Museum. With roughly 580,000 voucher specimens, it is by far the world's largest, nearly twice the size of the next largest mammal collections. The taxonomic and geographic scope of the USNM mammal collection spans the globe, with especially strong representation from North America, Central America, northern South America, Africa, and southeast Asia. The research value of this collection to mammalogists is evidenced by the 3500 primary type specimens preserved, a number exceeded only by The Natural History Museum, London. Its collection of marmots consists of 1089 specimens representing 11 species of Marmots of the World (out of M. camtschatica, M. menzbieri and M. vancouverensis).