Collection room

The collection room of the Department of Animal Biology, University of Antananarivo, holds a collection of 60,000 specimens of animals.  This material has been collected in different parts of Madagascar since 1990, by Malagasy students and researchers, as well as partners of the Department associated with overseas institutions. Most of these specimens have been cataloged according to international standards, using the acronym UADBA (“Université d’Antananarivo, Département de Biologie Animale”).  The museum collection includes mostly different taxonomic groups of Malagasy vertebrates including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.  Besides the fluid preserved specimens (formaldehyde and ethanol), there are also skin and skeleton specimens.  Holotypes and paratypes of recently described new species are also housed in this collection room. There are also some invertebrate specimens.

The Association Vahatra works closely with the Department of Animal Biology to improve the management of the collection room by providing technical, logistical and material support in order to:

• enriching the museum collections,
• providing technical aspects of identification and taxonomic updates,
• improving curatorial conditions to ensure the proper maintenance of specimens (alcohol, insecticides, jars, etc.),
• modernizing the system of cataloging and registration based on international standards,
• improving the collection management system to establish a simple yet rigorous management structure (curator).