#  Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 



#  A Resource for Research 

 About us 

The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University (MCZ) is a private center for research and education focused on the comparative relationships of animal life. The MCZ houses millions of animal specimens divided into nine departments and hosts hundreds of visiting researchers each year.



 

 [ Access our specimen database, MCZBase arrow\_circle\_right ](https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/Specimens.cfm) [ Public exhibits at the Harvard Museum of Natural History arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.hmnh.harvard.edu) 

 

       ![white drawers open to display mammalogy specimens ](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_28_10__1920x685/public/2025-01/mammalogy%20for%20website_DSC7502.png?itok=tZAyNVMb) 

 

 



 

 



 

> The MCZ stands with all people and organizations working to end racism and social injustice. We acknowledge the role of the Museum, and especially its founder, Louis Agassiz, in fostering ideas of racial disparity and inequality that underlie historical attitudes towards African Americans and other people of color—**ideas that we soundly reject**. As an institution devoted to education, research and public outreach, we are committed to developing **programs that will earnestly evaluate these attitudes and promote contemporary solutions, and to offering new educational and research opportunities** in the Museum for people who until now may have felt unwelcome or excluded.
> 
> Please visit our [Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging page](https://www.mcz.harvard.edu/dib) for more information.



 

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##  MCZ News 

 



  [### How Venom Kills — and Can Lead to Cures

 ](/news/2026/06/how-venom-kills-and-can-lead-cures) June 08, 2026 

 

   ![a hand reaching for a shell, among other shells, on a brown surface](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/011226_Mande_Holford_06..jpeg?itok=16mKeGZp) 

 



 

 

   [### Birding Helped Him Soar in Evolutionary Science

 ](/news/2026/05/birding-helped-him-soar-evolutionary-science) May 22, 2026 

 

   ![two people in a natural history museum, reviewing a specimen](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/Ashwin%20Sivakumar_Visitas-TonyRinaldo.jpg?itok=1PpY7zvA) 

 



 

 

   [### How to Discover a New Species

 ](/news/2026/05/how-discover-new-species) May 20, 2026 

 

   ![a person snorkeling over sea grass](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/OEB%2051%20Arianna%20Lord.jpg?itok=X69uDZZH) 

 



 

 

  

 

 [ More news arrow\_circle\_right ](/news) 

 

 

 

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##  Multimedia Featuring MCZ Research 

 



  [### 1. Digitizing the R. Glenn Northcutt Collection of Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy and Embryology (5:05 min video)

 ](https://player.vimeo.com/video/1094178048) 

   ![a person looking at the camera in a laboratory ](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-08/Screenshot%202025-08-07%20at%202.12.32%E2%80%AFPM.png?itok=kc3zbn7o) 

 



 

 

   [### Veritalk Episode 1 | Scott Edwards and the Biology of Birds | Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences (video)

 ](https://youtu.be/LKBAlDBsyZw?si=7sfK318Ecx2vviRm) 

   ![a person sitting in front of birds on display in a natural history museum](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/2338039015794691244.jpeg?itok=olbTVZRZ) 

 



 

 

   [### MCZ Curator James Hanken on the Amphibian Extinction Crisis

 ](/resource/mcz-curator-james-hanken-amphibian-extinction-crisis) 

   ![MCZ Curator James Hanken on the Amphibian Extinction Crisis](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-01/hqdefault%20%289%29.jpg?itok=ZAGyo1DP) 

 



 

 

  

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##  Research publications based on MCZ specimens