Welcome to the beginning of a new millennium. The 20th Century has seen the Industrial Age yield to the Space Age and the Computer Age. By the century's close we were  well into the Information Age. Computerized data, such as CD-ROMs and the Internet, have coupled with prodigious print and broadcast media to literally overwhelm us with information. Having and retrieving data is no longer a problem; finding specific, accurate and timely data is.

It is with the intent of helping to provide an organizing network for information pertaining to animal life that we founded the Virtual Museum of Natural History. This is our fledgling effort, produced so far entirely by the volunteer efforts of our staff, the donations of information and literature by colleagues, and a lot of encouragement from friends and associates. This site is made possible because of the global contributions from people and companies (so far) in Australia, Austria, England, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scotland, The United States, and Wales. To them we are grateful. Obviously, we are anxious to expand this base tenfold.

What do we hope to offer you, our Museum visitor? In essence, many of the same things you would expect from a steel and stone museum: educational exhibits, access to authoritative information, updates on meetings, literature and new discoveries, and a place to learn in an enjoyable atmosphere. Professional zoologists may also expect current data on individual species and higher categories,  an interactive real-time mapping database, and a variety of other services. We also plan to offer you access to links to other sites that our staff have reviewed for quality and usefulness. Even if we don't have what you are seeking on our site, we plan to provide access portals to the sites you need. We are also planning to add tours of physical museums, so you can see a museum from home and maybe schedule a visit for yourself. We also offer the links to the major natural history museums around the world.

Our VMNH also sponsors research around the world, for our mission is very much centered on monitoring biodiversity. We offer project and expedition reports as part of our free online publication service.

Because we are an Internet entity, we can recruit contributors from anywhere in the world. Most of the important physical museums are located in the temperate zones of the industrialized world. Our museum is not so restricted, and with appropriate contributors can be world-spanning. Thus, we are particularly eager to hear from zoologists in biodiversity-rich developing countries, and offer them a chance to join either our staff of contributors or board of advisors.

To fully implement a global availability policy, all material on this site is available for limited reproduction so long as proper credit is given to the VMNH, its authors and photographers (unless otherwise noted).

If you do not see something you need on our site, please tell us and, if possible, prepare to contribute. It is our intention to be an inclusive organization. Feel free to make contact with us via the Contact Us section of the website.

As a non-profit organization, we depend upon funding from corporate and private sponsors and visitors such as you. Our Museum Mall and the many scattered literature citations offer places where you may link to merchants from whom you may purchase a variety of products and services. In exchange, the merchants will make a tax-deductible contribution of a percentage of those sales. Of course, we welcome any contributions that can help further our mission.

Okay, having said all that, let's "cut the ribbon" on this enterprise and go visit the Museum! 

Very Best Wishes,