Undergraduate Researcher Matt Zak has been hard at work organizing the Bird and Mammal skin and skull collection at the Millersville Animal Museum Room.  Matt is currently organizing bird skins so each bird specimen can be labeled and photographed so a database of all animal specimens can be developed.  Tedious work, but very important.  These animal specimens help document the presence of particular species at a particular place and time. This allows us to examine geographic and temporal changes in animal populations, species, and communities, and to track those patterns in relation to natural or human-induced changes in the environment (e.g., climate change, landscape alteration, etc.).   Museum specimens form the basis for research on evolution, speciation, and distribution, and also provide an important baseline for studies of conservation.