The
Provincial Museum of
Alberta
Edmonton,
Alberta
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Field/Online
Collection(s):
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-Botany, Entomology ,
Ichthyology, Mammalogy, Mineralogy, Ornithology,
(Vertebrate) Paleontology.
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 The
Natural History Museum contain some 500,000 specimens
grouped into these sections:
- Botany with
collection
of some 35,000 vascular plant specimens and some 110,000
cryptogamic plant specimens.
- Geology with
collection
of some 20,000 specimens (about 13,000 minerals; 4,000
rocks; and 3,000 stratigraphic specimens, and some 650
mineral species from over 80 countries).
- Ichthyology with
collection
of some 3500 specimens (mostly from Alberta) preserved in
ethanol but good representative collections of
disarticulated skeletons and cryo-preserved tissues are
also maintained.
- Invertebrate Zoology with
collection
of some 200,000 specimens of the world wide collection of
Aculeate Hymenoptera (bees and wasps). There are smaller
collections of Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera
(butterflies and moths) and minor collections of most of
the other orders of insects. Live insects are being
displayed in the Bug
Room.
- Mammalogy with
collection
of some 11,400 catalogue records that includes some 6550
skins, 9800 partial to complete skeletons, 500 taxidermy
mounts, and approximately 80 whole specimens in fluid.
The storage of soft tissues for DNA and other molecular
analyses was initiated recently. The collection focuses
on Alberta and documentation of the distribution of
species is more complete for the southern portion of the
province. Although the collection of Alberta mammals is
the primary focus here making this Museum among the
largest and most representative of Alberta mammals, more
recently, the Museum has expanded its inventory by
acquiring non-Alberta species as well.
Mammals are featured here in the
Habitat
Gallery and other
ongoing natural history exhibits.
- Ornithology with
collection
of some 30 000 avian artifacts and 8400 slides
documenting the birds of the province. The Museum
maintains the only public bird collection dealing with
the birds of the province, and is the single most
important collection of avian material in Alberta.
- Quaternary
Vertebrate
Paleontology - is
the study of fossil organisms that lived during the last
1.8 million years, and it is an ongoing project at this
Museum focusing on the Alberta Province with many puzzles
still in place. (For instance, it is puzzling that
fossils of certain animal species are absent from Alberta
such as the stag-elk and giant beaver despite their
presence to the south, in the lower 48 United States, and
to the north, in Beringia -those parts of Yukon Territory
and Alaska that remained unglaciated during the
Wisconsinan glaciation.)
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Country
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