Dear Friends,

By now I hope you have had a chance to visit The Virtual Museum of Natural History at curator.org—the first completely online natural history museum. Our biodiversity database, providing information on Earth’s animal species, is increasing rapidly. We have written our materials in plain English, so they are almost equally accessible to anyone, from rank amateur to seasoned professional, who wants to use them.

In April 2000, the VMNH received its recognition as an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit scientific and educational organization. That means all contributions to this important project are now tax deductible. We are now asking for your support as we continue our biodiversity research in one of the most important “hotspots” on the planet: Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea has one of the largest unexploited rainforests in the world, a huge tract in the inhospitable Western Province. This area is home to a tremendous number of unusual animal species, many of which still await discovery or formal scientific description. Our staff is working on compiling the comprehensive guide to the amphibians and reptiles of this rare and nearly virgin country, and needs your financial support to finish the project. Four staff members, plus a professional artist, need three years to finish writing and illustrating Amphibians and Reptiles of Papua New Guinea: A Comprehensive Guide to the Herpetofauna of the Region. When finished, this book will resemble H. G. Cogger’s Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia and Tim Flannery’s Mammals of New Guinea, becoming the standard reference work for all interested naturalists for many years to come.

In addition to our work with the herpetofauna, we are collecting data on the insects and fishes of PNG so our colleagues may develop similar comprehensive volumes on these important and interesting groups.

Supporting this work so far have been the PNG National Museum’s department of Natural History—Principle Curator Ilaiah Bigilale is co-author of the Herpetofauna book—and the Tufi Dive and Adventure Lodge, providing building facilities and other support. However, we desperately need financial support to pay for salaries and travel expenses of our staff. Because of our structure as a virtual museum, we have few overhead expenses, so almost all donated money can be directed towards the actual research program you support. The results of our research will not only add immeasurably to the world’s biodiversity database, but will provide solid data that will be used by local peoples to establish and maintain biological preserves.

If you haven’t visited The Virtual Museum of Natural History yet, please do so today—we’re always open, always free. See what we are doing and decide how you can help further our work. Then please make your contribution while we still have this exciting—and increasingly rare—opportunity to explore so vast a rainforest. Thank you

Please send e-mail to webmaster@curator.org with web site questions or comments.
Please send e-mail to director@curator.org with scientific questions or comments.
Copyright © 2004 Virtual Museum of Natural History (a non-profit organization)
Last modified: 10/10/04