The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) at the University of California, Berkeley, is a centre for research and education in the biology of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Founded in 1908, the Museum's mission is to document and increase understanding of the diversity of terrestrial vertebrates, with particular emphasis on western North America. The superb collections are at the heart of the MVZ program, where methods of field biology are combined with modern laboratory techniques and analytical methods in a comprehensive, synthetic approach. Our goals are to remain at the forefront of international research on evolutionary biology from the perspectives of systematics, ecology, behaviour, functional and developmental morphology, population biology, and evolutionary genomics, and to lead the way in developing and using major natural history collections for research, education, and solving problems in biodiversity conservation.
