Museum of Comparative Zoology

ABOUT The Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) at Harvard University is a center for research and education focused on the comparative relationships of animal life. MCZ collections are comprised of approximately 21-million extant and fossil invertebrate and vertebrate specimens, which continue to be a focus of research and teaching for MCZ, Harvard and outside students and researchers. The MCZ is comprised of nine departments (Entomology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Malacology, Mammalogy, Ornithology and Vertebrate Paleontology), in addition to the Ernst Mayr Library and the Concord Field Station. The MCZ is led by current Faculty Director Professor Gonzalo Giribet, with oversight from the MCZ Faculty, the museum's governing body. Eight faculty-curators and four emeriti provide additional vision and leadership to the museum's collections. MCZ faculty-curators are Harvard faculty members within the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB), leading active research areas that include Biodiversity and Systematics, Biology of Marine Systems, Biomechanics and Physiology, Ecology, Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Mathematical and Computational Biology, Neuroethnology and Behavioral Ecology, Paleobiology, and Population and Evolutionary Genetics. The MCZ also has a productive associates roster. These affiliated researchers are hosted by individual departments and are reviewed and approved by the MCZ Faculty Board.