Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Species list

amur leopard

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5+ year member
Here is a (nearly complete) mammal species list at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
I am missing a few species of rodents, a few South American and Asian species and perhaps a couple spread around the museum I did not take into account. This was made by compiling species in photos in the gallery, photos online and the virtual tour of the museum that can be found here: National Museum of Natural History.
Some of the specimens were inaccurately signed or I had to take a (hopefully slightly educated) guess at what the species in question was. Some have only been narrowed down to genus level. If anyone has a more complete/accurate list, feel free to post it below - I don't believe anything of the sort has been posted on Zoochat before.

NB: there is an online catalogue of the Museum's complete collections, which are extremely impressive, and I sincerely wish more of them were exhibited in the areas devoted to mammals (the galleries seem quite sparse in relation to especially the Paris Natural History Museum). For example, I wish that the zoo displayed one of its Bay or Flat-headed cat specimens.

I have highlighted potentially interesting/rare species in red.

Anyway, here goes:

Bone Halls (all skeletons unless specified otherwise)

Platypus
Short-beaked echidna
Brush-tailed possum
Greater glider (this was signed as a Great flying phalanger)
Koala
Great grey kangaroo
Tiger quoll (signed as a 'native cat')
Marsupial mole sp.
American opossum sp.
Human
Western gorilla
Bornean orangutan
Chimpanzee
Hylobates sp.
Two-toed sloth sp.
Three-toed sloth sp. (I think Brown-throated but not entirely sure)
Giant anteater
Aardvark
Nine-banded armadillo
Big hairy armadillo
Long-tailed pangolin
Cape hyrax
Sunda colugo
Arctic hare
Sylvilagus sp. (signed as such)
American pika
Vampire bat
Samoan flying fox
Northern short-tailed shrew
Eastern mole
Tailless tenrec
North African elephant shrew
Giant golden mole
European hedgehog
Cuban solenodon
Pallid bat
Mastiff bat sp.
Cave myotis
Leaf-chinned bat
Capybara
Norway rat
Jerboa sp.
North-American beaver
Meadow jumping mouse
Pel's flying squirrel
Graphiurus sp.
La Plata dolphin
Common dolphin
Harbour porpoise
Gray whale
Bornean bearded pig
Collared peccary
Javan mouse deer
Mule deer
Barking deer
Pronghorn
American bison
Saiga antelope
Bighorn sheep
Musk ox
Llama
Dromedary
Giraffe
Steller's sea cow
Dugong
West Indian? manatee
Geoffroy's spider monkey
Guatemalan black howler
Red bald uakari
Colombian white-faced capuchin
Pygmy marmoset
Cottontop tamarin
Guianan squirrel monkey
Mandrill
Patas monkey
Proboscis monkey
Malay civet
European wildcat
Tiger
Caracal
Striped hyena
Aardwolf
Golden jackal
South American coati
Giant panda (skull)
Red fox
Kodiak bear
European badger
American marten
Walrus (skull)
Sun bear
Fur seal sp.
There was also another seal skull
Harp seal
Striped skunk
Spotted skunk sp.
Ermine
Sea otter
NA river otter
Raccoon
Cheetah (not sure)
Grey wolf
Indian rhino
Baird's tapir
Burchell's zebra
Musk deer (skull)
Warthog (jawbone)
Cat (skull)
Harvest mouse sp.

Taxidermy area (all taxidermies unless specified otherwise)

African bush elephant
West Indian? manatee
Dall's sheep
Nubian or Walia ibex
Greater kudu
Arctic fox (Summer fur)
Ringtail cat
Walrus
Chinese water deer
Binturong
Western lowland? gorilla
Fossa
White-tailed? jackrabbit
Short-beaked echidna
Common marmoset
Colugo sp.
Risso's dolphin
Tiger
Grey langur sp.
Sulawesi crested macaque
Giant panda
Maned wolf
Ocelot or Oncilla (face not visible from the angles I tried)
Moose
Muntjac sp.
African lion
Northern white rhino
European mole
American pika
African civet
Pacarana
Three-toed? sloth sp.
Ring-tailed lemur
Giraffe
Cape buffalo
Sable antelope
African leopard
Impala
Barbary sheep
Blue wildebeest
Addra gazelle
Scimitar-horned oryx
Fennec fox
Waterbuck
Hippo
Grevy's zebra
Bushpig
Gerenuk
Springhaas?
Striped hyena
Aardvark
Bongo
Okapi
Mantled guereza
African wildcat
Koala
Woolly monkey sp.
Spotted skunk sp.
Black-backed jackal
Sun bear
White-nosed coati
Fallow deer
Bighorn sheep
Wild boar
Southern flying squirrel
Sugar glider
Dingo
+ a few more marsupial species
Huon tree kangaroo
Red kangaroo
Great grey kangaroo
Wallaby sp.
Platypus
Red fox
Tayra
Squirrel monkey
Venzuelan red howler
Pygmy marmoset
Jamaican fruit-eating bat
Agouti sp.
Kinkajou
Goeldi's marmoset (not sure)
Giant anteater
Tamandua sp.
Bush dog
Tapir sp. (it was behind something else so couldn't ID)
Giant armadillo
Brown-throated three-toed sloth
American porcupine sp.
Canada lynx
Red squirrel
American marten
Ermine
Caribou
Snowshoe hare
Arctic fox (winter fur)
Brown lemming
Brown bear
Grey wolf
Coyote
American bison
Pronghorn
Black-tailed jackrabbit
American badger
Black-tailed jackrabbit
(Another burrowing species)
Northern grasshopper mouse
Raccoon
American black bear
Grey fox
Virginia opossum
Orangutan sp.
Polar bear
Eastern cottontail
North American porcupine
Fisher
White-tailed deer
Bobcat
White-footed mouse
Eastern chipmunk
Southern flying squirrel
Northern short-tailed shrew
American beaver
North Atlantic right whale (model)
Kaibab squirrel
Abert's squirrel
Thylacine
Eastern red bat
Spectral bat
Crested rat

Common pipistrelle
Spix's disc-winged bat
Cambodian striped squirrel
Armored rat

Giant pangolin
Pink fairy armadillo
Hispaniolan solenodon
Jaguar (melanistic)
Sable marten
Greater glider

I may do a bird list, but it would be focused around the 'Birdlife of Washington D.C.' gallery which contains hundreds of species but does not spread beyond the realms of Eastern USA.
 
Very interesting list! I visited the museum in 2008 but I don’t remember all those specimens!
 
Very interesting list! I visited the museum in 2008 but I don’t remember all those specimens!

I feel stupid because I wasn't able to ID all the small bat, rodent and marsupial species, which are ironically the ones I'm most interested in! I've done a similar list for the AMNH which is slightly shorter, although they have different strengths. The AMNH is notably missing a large section of Australasian and South American fauna but is strong on African ungulates in particular. I hope to visit the museum in a couple of years' time when I'm finished all my exams as a sort of celebratory trip (passing through NYC and Philly as well, seeing their respective zoos and both natural history museums along with hopefully some other sights.)
 
Here is a list of species in the insect exhibit (O. Orkin Insect Zoo) from my visit in April 2022. Other than a few fish and marine invertebrates, these are the only live animals on exhibit in the museum.

Goliath Birdeater (Theraphosa blondi)
Mexican Red-kneed Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi)
Chilean Copper Tarantula (Paraphysa scrofa)
Pink-toed Tarantula (Avicularia sp)
Wolf Spider (Lycosidae)
Moon Crab (Gecarcinus quadratus)
Honeypot Ant (Myrmecocyctus sp)
Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus)
White-spotted Assassin Bug (Platymeris biguttata)
Lubber Grasshopper (Romalea guttata)
Jungle Nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata)
Spiny Leaf Insect (Extatosoma tiaratum)
Giant Water Bug (Belostomatidae)
Waterscorpion (Nepidae)
Giant Vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus giganteus)
Giant Desert Centipede (Scolopendra heros)
Death Feigning Beetle (Asbolus sp)
Black Widow (Latrodectus sp)
Uncertain Tarantula - didn't take photo of sign

In the butterfly nursery (they were mostly in caccoons, but a couple were hatched)
Common Morpho (Morpho peleides)
Giant Owl Butterfly (Caligo memnon)
Forest Owl Butterfly (Caligo eurilochus)
Belus Swallowtail (Battus bellus)


There are a few other insects signed, but these aren't living.
 
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