[Nhcoll-l] Partnerships between zoos and collections

[Joshua Kulak]

Dear Katrina,

Currently the leading group on this specific subject is the Zoo-Museum
Research Coordination Network <https://zoomunetwork.org/>, whose launching
paper can be read here.
<https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/5/449/6570825> I would
definitely mine that bibliography as a good place to start for an MOU.
ZooMu also has an excellent google group which I strongly recommend signing
up for, and they have hosted some fascinating webinars. In the UK, the
CryoArks
<https://www.nms.ac.uk/collections/departments/natural-sciences/projects/cryoarks>
project
is another great example to point to.

Outside of the zoo-museum context specifically, Brockington et al. (2026)
<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-02192-6> is a phenomenal paper
about cross collaboration between herbaria and botanical gardens, and I've
given a couple talks on this issue regarding insects. It's a research area
with a great deal of potential!

Best of luck,
Josh Kulak

F&M '26, B.A. Biological Foundations of Behavior: Animal Behavior

Contributor, Imagining Insects
<https://northmuseum.org/exhibits/imagining-insects/>, on display through
Summer 2026

Alum: Bashaw Lab <https://www.fandm.edu/directory/meredith-bashaw.html>, Lacy
Lab <https://www.fandm.edu/directory/ryan-lacy.html>, Reckoning With
Lancaster <https://www.reckoningwithlancaster.com/>

Recipient: 2026 Thompson Animal Behavior Award, 2025 Solomon Wank Human
Rights Award, 2025 Altick Prize

Volunteer: Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, North Museum
of Nature and Science

On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 12:18 PM Derieg, Katrina <katrina.derieg at mso.umt.edu>
wrote:

> Dear NHC community,
> I am trying to establish a partnership with our local zoo to receive
> animals and accession them into our collection. They asked for some
> examples of zoos collaborating with natural history collections. If any of
> you receive zoo animals at your institution, could you send me any helpful
> documentation of such a partnership? This could be news articles, primary
> literature, MOUs, or anything like that. Just want something to demonstrate
> that this is not novel and there are many successful collaborations.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
> -Katrina
>
> *KATRINA DERIEG **(she/her)*
>
> *Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator*
>
> *Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM)*
> https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/
>
> *Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406-243-4743*
> *Office: Health Science 211*
>
> *katrina.derieg at umontana.edu <katrina.derieg at umontana.edu> |
> umzm at mso.umt.edu <umzm at mso.umt.edu>*
>
> *University of Montana*
>
> *Search the UMZM collections on Arctos: **Birds*
> <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Bird>* | *
> *Mammals*
> <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Mamm>* | **Eggs
> & Nests* <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Egg>* |
> **Parasites*
> <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Para>
>
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