These collections are not open to the public and require permission to visit and study. I’ve traveled to the American Museum’s collections a couple of times in the past few years to study the mammalian comparative collection, which is comprised of over 275,000 mammal bones. This makes it the third-largest collection of mammals in the world!
The reason that I went to research mammal bones at the American Museum was to better understand the differences in the thickness of long bones (the bones in arms and legs) between all mammals across the world. Even though I study fossil animals that lived many thousands of years ago, understanding the diversity of modern mammals allows me to better understand mammal diversity in the past. Now when I find a long bone fossil fragment, I can look at its thickness and compare it to the bones in the American Museum to better understand what type of animal the fossil bones came from.
Museum work is a lot of fun, especially in huge collections like at the American Museum. I’ve spent hours and hours going through hundreds of cabinets and drawers looking at the skeletons of exotic animals like pandas, giraffes, polar bears, rhinos, and so much more. Every drawer holds a new surprise. In South Africa, I work at a museum where our laboratory is located, and am helping design the exhibit of another museum in town. Museums are a great place to visit when traveling to learn about the history of the place you are visiting. If you become a scientist when you grow up, you can also visit the collections and study them yourself. In the meantime, visiting the American Museum's public exhibits is an awesome way to explore the world without leaving the city!
