Documenting the Endangered Zoological Collections of Avifauna and Small Mammals of Mweka Museum, Tanzania

Zoological collections are important resources for teaching and research on taxonomy, evolutionary histories of species, and evaluating genetic changes resulting from anthropogenic pressures and global changes. Despite the wealth of zoological collections (ca. 6850 specimens) housed in Mweka Museum at the College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, the collection is poorly organized and documentation for digitization has never been done. In addition, access to the collection by users has been for more than 50 years limited to physical access only. This situation exposes about 1,350 specimen of birds and mammals under a great risks of deterioration or loss (some of which difficult to replace once lost) because of increased attack by pests, aging, unfavorable weather as a result of global climatic variation, physical handling and manipulation by users (i.e, students and researchers). Therefore, this proposed project aims to organize and document avifauna and small mammal collections for effective preservation and digitization at a later stage. Specimen documentation to support digitization will not only secure the material by improving preservation but also increase the accessibility of digitized copies of the original specimen to students and the wider scientific community for research and education popularization.