YPM MAM 001480 - skin and skull

Mammalogy

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The mammals collection in the Yale Peabody Museum’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology is worldwide in coverage and used principally for teaching. It dates to the early days of the Museum in the mid-1800s and contains representatives of all mammalian orders, except neotropical marsupials (Paucituberculata and Microbiotheria). Holdings consists mainly of skins and skulls, with smaller numbers of postcranial skeletons and specimens preserved in alcohol.

The collection includes historically interesting captive specimens:

  • Circus animals donated by P.T. Barnum and his successors.
  • A valuable reference collection of the mounted skeletons of champion show dogs

The mammalogy collection contains several rare and endangered species, including:

  • Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis).
  • Black-footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes).
  • Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis).
  • Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei).
  • Caribbean Monk Seal (Neomonachus tropicalis).
  • Red Wolf (Canis rufus).
  • Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia).

Recent field activity includes work in Alaska and Cambodia.

The mammalogy holdings were strengthened during the 20th century by purchases from Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and from Ecuador; Roland Baker’s 1956 work in Coahuila, Mexico; material collected on the Morden African Expedition to Kenya in 1965; several expeditions to Canada;  and the Pennsylvania–Yale Expeditions to Egypt in the 1960s.

Stanley C. Ball carried the curatorial duties for the mammalogy collection through much of the 20th century until the appointment of Charles A. Reed as curator in 1961. Each of the 3 former curators—Charles A. Reed, John Kirsch, and J. David Archibald—donated specimens, as did Peabody preparators David Parsons, Rollin Bauer, and Fred Sibley.

Skin and Pelt Collection

Holdings in the Division of Vertebrate Zoology’s mammalogy collection consist of 5,086 skins representing more than 720 species that date from the 19th century. Among the earliest specimens is a meadow vole collected at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1855 by J.W.P. Jenks.

Osteological Collection

The skeletal collection of mammals contains 4,776 specimens representing over 770 species. Historically important, it contains a disproportionate number of large animals, among them several tapirs, elephants, giraffes, African antelopes, and a large series of buffalo skulls from the 1870s.

Much of the skeletal material dates to before 1900 and was built by Othniel C. Marsh from his extensive collecting and research in the 19th century. The collection was initially created by Marsh for use as comparative material for his paleontological studies. Holdings of all modern vertebrates had been united into a single formal osteology division, but all skeletal specimens are now maintained within the Division of Vertebrate Zoology.

The Quagga

The collection holds one of only seven known complete skeletons of the extinct Quagga (Equus quagga quagga), a mare that lived at London’s Regent Park Zoo. 18th- and 19th-century explorers described it as the most horse-like and beautiful of zebras—chestnut to light bay, striped only on the head, neck, and forequarters—and many scientists once considered it a separate species. 

DNA studies of skin and bone samples later showed the Quagga represents the southern extreme of a north–south trend in stripe reduction. It’s now regarded as a subspecies of the Plains Zebra (Equus quagga burchellii).

YPM MAM 007481: Equus quagga

Gargantua the Great

Arguably the 20th century’s most famous circus animal, this specimen was a Lowland Gorilla orphaned at one month old. Raised by African missionaries, he was bought by a sea captain who brought him to Boston in 1931. He was later acquired by Gertrude Davies Lintz, who cared for him and nicknamed him “Buddy.” 

In 1937 she sold him to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, who renamed him “Gargantua the Great,” and he became a sensational attraction that toured the country for 12 years. He died in 1949 at 20 and was donated to the Yale Peabody Museum in 1950.

YPM MAM 009752: Gorilla gorilla "Gargantua the Great" exhibit

The Leon F. Whitney Collection of Champion Show Dogs

One of the Yale Peabody Museum’s more unusual, and probably unique, collections is the Leon F. Whitney Collection of Champion Show Dogs, known in the 1930s as the “Dog Hall of Fame.”

Leon Whitney was a local veterinarian, prolific writer on veterinary and other topics, developer of animal foods, breeder of bloodhounds, and student of genetics. In 1928, he proposed to the Peabody the establishment of a collection of champion dogs that would be a valuable reference for future study of genetic diversity and selective breeding, and to provide a record of current standards of the various breeds.

YPM MAM 007911: Champion male Dachsund (Canis familiaris) skeleton

YPM MAM 007911: Champion male Dachsund (Canis familiaris) skeleton

Madagascar Lemurs

The Sifaka Database

Research hosted at the Peabody makes available 25 years of data on the critically endangered Verreaux’s Sifaka at the Bezà Mahafaly Special Reserve (BMSR) in Madagascar. The Reserve is the focus of a longstanding, community-based conservation partnership.

The Yale Peabody Museum hosts the Sifaka Database, under a collaborative agreement with the School of Agronomy, University of Antananarivo. The Database includes monitoring information on over 900 individuals, and is designed to support research, serve as a resource for teaching, and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in BMSR.

Access Sifaka Data Portal Bezà Mahafaly, Madagascar
Chloe Chen-Kraus - Orona and Fehiloha

Orona and Fehiloha—photo credit: Chloe Chen-Kraus

More info: Sifaka Database

Research in the Mammalogy Collections

The Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the Yale Peabody Museum sponsors research on the morphology, evolution, development, biogeography, ecology, and behavior of vertebrates. Division staff and affiliates conduct field research on multiple continents. Additionally, molecular studies by staff have addressed population genetics, conservation, and the molecular systematics of vertebrates.

The Peabody’s curatorial divisions are governed by the Museum’s collections policies and best practices document. Collections are available to researchers for scholarly use and loans are issued to individuals at established institutions. Loans and access can be arranged through the curatorial division’s collections manager.

For general information on objects in this collection, including identifications, contact the Yale Peabody Museum Department of Education at peabody.education@yale.edu.

Department Contact

Curators & Divisional Staff

Faculty Affiliates

Günter Wagner

Curatorial Affiliates

John A. Hart
Terese Hart
Jason Munshi-South
Link Olson
James Prosek
Ryan B. Stephens

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