Unlocking the information of the zoological collections
As a child, pupil, parent or nature lover, we have all admired rare animals, outlandish plants, or mysterious minerals displayed in museums. But do you know that the collections kept in museums are also of great importance to science?
Museum collections contain the first described species of animals and plants, which serve as an important reference for taxonomists. Ensuring that these specimens (types) are kept in good condition and made available for examination by scientists are two important functions of museums.
The AfricaMuseum has important collections of type specimens and the launch of a citizen science project on data enrichment by label transcription will reveal these to a wider audience and help enlarge our collection of digital specimens available through Virtual collection.
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Registers of the bird collection
Help transcribing the registers of our bird collection to enrich our databases!
We manage a collection of over 150,000 bird specimens, including flat-skins, specimens preserved in alcohol, mounted specimen and skeletons, but also eggs, bird nests etc. Almost all specimens were collected in Africa.
Approximately 250 species and sub-species of birds are represented by type specimens, i.e. specimens that were used for the description of species.
The first bird specimen in our ornithology collection dates back to 1897, but written bird registers were only started in the years 1910-1920, when Belgian zoologist Henri Schouteden started working at the scientific services of the museum.
These registers have been digitized because they contain valuable information about our bird collection (localities, collectors, special observations, …), which can be added to our digital databases and thus improve collection management and serve scientific research. -
The Odonate collection
Project complete!
Help transcribing the original labels on the specimens of the Odonate collection to enrich our databases!
Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. The project includes 130 images of type specimens with labels. Volunteers are invited to transcribe those labels, meaning they add all type of information written on the label (taxon name, collector, year of collection, determination information) into a corresponding field to enrich the databases.
This project is completed, thanks to the help of volunteers. Keep an eye on coming projects on this page!
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De Lepidoptera collection
Project complete!
Help transcribing the original labels on the specimens of the Lepidoptera collection to enrich our databases!
The collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa contains about 240,000 butterflies and about 230,000 moths. This citizen science project aims to open it up to a wider audience. Citizen scientists are invited to enrich the databases by transcribing the useful information on the labels of the specimens.
This project is completed, thanks to the help of volunteers. Keep an eye on coming projects on this page!