The Museum of Paleontology contains a unique and invaluable collection of fossil and modern organisms representing taxa from prokaryotes to vertebrates collected from all continents. One of the largest collections in the United States, it is well curated and computerized. The Museum houses many thousands of type specimens. Paleontologists, biologists and geologists throughout the world use the collections in person or through loans. The Museum serves the University community in various research projects and provides support for instruction at Berkeley and other UC campuses.
While not a public museum, significant fossils are exhibited at Blackhawk in Contra Costa County, and through loans to other museums for public display. Additional fossils are exhibited in the Valley Life Sciences Bldg., at the University of California, Berkeley. The Museum provides a variety of specialized services for paleontology, including computerized collection management, morphological analysis, preparation and casting, and fossil illustration.