Section of Ornithology
In this Section,
experts in systematics, geographic distribution, morphology, ecology, and protection
of the birds are working. Meanwhile, completion and storage of bird collections
remain the principal tasks.
Ornithological collection of the museum, by its size and importance, takes the second position after that of Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, and belongs to the first dozen of similar collections in the World.
The birds are numerous, diverse (approximately 10,000 species), inhabit almost all possible landscapes, and watching them provides a real pleasure to huge amount of fans of this occupation; there are several millions of people united in dozens of societies of bird watchers all over he World. Birds are better studied than other animals, largely due to the activity of just the amateur bird watchers. History of the ornithology is inextricably linked to the gathering and studying of the collections, in which not only professional ornithologists, but also travelers and amateur collectors are largely involved. Despite the complexity of dissection and preservation of birds and bird eggs for museum collections, in 19th and 20th centuries, both number and size of such collections all over the world has been constantly growing from older till present times.
In the sector kept 142,500 specimens. Number
of nomenclatorial types: taxa/specimens 191/395. Number
of entries in electronic databases 16,700.