The mammal division of the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection, at Texas A&M University, has grown steadily since its inception in 1937 and currently ranks among the 12 largest institutional collections of Recent mammals in the United States. The strength of the mammal division lies primarily in its North American material, particularly Texas and New Mexico; however, it also has nationally important collections from Central and South America. Previous NSF awards have funded the reorganization, updating and curation of all of the dry materials (skins and skeletons) in the collection. This project will improve access to non-traditional preparations, primarily chromosomal and frozen tissue specimens, by providing support for curating and cross-referencing them to the dry specimens. Funds will be used to purchase equipment and supplies to improve the physical storage of the ancillary preparations and to fund a collection assistant position for one year. The mammal division has prepared a model agreement specifying the ground rules for making loans of the non- traditional specimens to scientists throughout the country and for accessioning new ancillary specimens into the collection.
