Welcome to the Department of Museum Research and Collections!
We oversee the management and curation of the Alabama Museum of Natural History collections and develop interdisciplinary research programs focusing on museum-based research. Browse this site to learn more about who we are and what we do.
The sea floor was a dangerous place for particularly smaller animals. Over the last century, a wealth of information about traces in ancient prey items has been recorded, showing successful and unsuccessful predation. One of the best ways to largely avoid predators and other disturbances is to find a shelter.
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Evidence of parasitism in the fossil record has historically received little attention because parasites are small, these soft bodied animals do not fossilize well, and there is an enormous lack of study.
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A large molecular study has confirmed what was thought for a while: some isolated groups with at most a handful of species each are so unique that they have no close living relatives remaining. Five new families were named and two were revived.
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Bats are found all over the world, but only two types that range in the tropics are blood-feeders. Abbott said this rumor has unfortunately caused bats to gain a bad reputation when they’re really one of the most helpful mammals in existence.
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Alabama’s Harrell Station, roughly 45 miles west of Montgomery and 150 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, seems like the last place someone would go to explore the ocean. But crumbling out of the dusty ground, which has been wrinkled into gullies of white chalk, are the remnants of an ancient sea.
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Alabama’s Harrell Station, roughly 75 kilometers west of Montgomery and 250 kilometers inland from the Gulf of Mexico, seems like the last place someone would go to explore the ocean. But crumbling out of the dusty ground, which has been wrinkled into gullies of white chalk, are the remnants of an ancient sea.
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Dr. Ron Buta, professor emeritus of Astronomy, has been a major force in avocational or amateur paleontology since he rediscovered his interest in paleontology in mid-1990s. For his substantial contributions uncovering the prehistory of Alabama, he has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the prestigious Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Award.
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On Friday, October 8th, a fossil turtle, a fish, and various crustaceans were donated to the Alabama Museum of Natural History collection by UA Museums’ Research Associate Mr. George Martin. George found all specimens himself in Alabama and prepared them by removing the surrounding rock and stabilizing the fossils using a specialized resin as needed.
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The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a $39,944 grant to the paleontology collections of the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The goal of this project is the rehousing, digitizing, and imaging of the cataloged part of the historic invertebrate paleontology and type collections over the next two years starting in September.
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