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The Field Museum’s Philippine Mammal Project has been operating as a focused program since 1988. However, staff from the Museum’s Zoology Department conducted studies in the Philippines as early as 1946, and some specimens in the Museum’s biodiversity research collections date from the late 1800s.
The Project objective is to conduct research that will allow the team to come to a broadly-based understanding of how the exceptionally high level of Philippine biological diversity has evolved, how it is maintained under natural ecological circumstances, and how it can be most effectively conserved in the face of the many and severe challenges it faces.
To that end, the Project team conducts field surveys of mammals (and other organisms) in carefully selected parts of the country. The team’s research plays a crucial role in:
- Obtaining new information on the conservation status of the habitats and wildlife,
- Providing current and accurate information about habitat management and conservation to government agencies at the national and local levels, and
- Educating the public about the spectacular animals that live around them so that people will be more strongly motivated to promote conservation.
In the process, the team conducts studies that help reveal how the unique geological history of the archipelago has provided a “biological theater” for the development of one of the world’s most remarkable faunas.
Continue to Luzon Island’s Importance.
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