Museum of Southwestern Biology
Museum of Southwestern Biology

The Museum of Southwestern Biology is a research and teaching facility in the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico.

open weekdays 8am - 5pm
visitors welcome by appointment
information for visitors

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phone: (505) 277-1360
fax: (505) 277-1351
museum administrator


CERIA

mailing:
Museum of Southwestern Biology
1 University of New Mexico
MSC03-2020
Albuquerque, NM 87131

shipping:
University of New Mexico
302 Yale Blvd NE
CERIA 83, Room 204
Albuquerque, NM, USA 87131

Volunteer

volunteer

MSB has many exciting opportunities for volunteers who are interested in making an impact on big societal issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, emerging pathogens, and invasive exotic species. Our collections are the basis for cutting edge studies that are making a difference in topics like these across the globe. We're looking for energetic partners who have a commitment to biodiversity studies. Join us!

Volunteer opportunities exist in all areas of specimen preparation, cataloging and data management, and field work. The MSB Division of Birds has a diverse collection of birds, from extensive collections of South American hummingbirds to specimens of owls that cover many different taxa like the flammulated to great horned owls. The Division of Amphibians and Reptiles has specimens of snakes, lizards, and frogs collected from the Southwestern US. As diverse as the habitats they came from, these collections contain everything from small tree frogs to formable looking Gila monsters from the Arizona desert. Across the aisle from these collections the Division of Fishes has specimens of unique fishes from the American Southwest. The endemic fish fauna of New Mexico will introduce volunteers to unique life histories of cold blooded vertebrates. Our Division of Arthropods is divided into wet and dry collections. The wet collection works with soft body arthropods such as spiders, millipedes and centipedes. The dry collection is the pinned collection: beetles, roaches, butterflies, moths and more. The UNM Herbarium has a historically important collection of plants from the American Southwest and gives volunteers opportunities to learn how to press and mount collections. If Mammals interest you, we've got everything form aardvarks to zebras; bones to number, and data to enter. And all the vertebrate and invertebrate collections deposit both genetic samples and parasites in two more divisions:  the Division of Genomic Resources and Division of Parasites.

Browse the Division pages to see which division may interest you then contact that Division or the museum administrator for more information about volunteer opportunities.

We look forward to having you become a key contributor at the Museum of Southwestern Biology.

Donate

There is a long tradition of private support for natural history museums across the U.S. Because the MSB is one of the most dynamic natural history museums in the Southwest, your support would support students, significantly enhance our mission of documenting, archiving and interpreting our planet's biological diversity as we help to protect and manage dwindling natural environments.

Your donation may be designated for the Museum as a whole, or directed to one our Divisions, or applied to special projects currently underway. For more information on how to become an MSB benefactor, please contact the Museum Director. If you are ready to give now, you can give online by credit card or by phone through the UNM Foundation.

Visit

visit Learn about visiting the museum. Research visits and educational tours can be arranged by contacting the museum administrator.