Specimen Collection: Tracking Down and Keeping Track Specimens come to the Museum from a variety of sources, including zoos, natural resource offices, animal hospitals, biotic surveys, and even local roadsides. Whether it’s a squirrel found on the side of I-55 or a tiger that died at the zoo, each specimen is treated with the utmost care. Two of the most important details of collection are locality and date. Other important data include body measurements, sex and reproductive information, and environmental and climatic details. Anytime a specimen is collected, it is immediately assigned a field number. This number is used to refer to the specimen throughout the collection and preparation stages. When the animal is completely prepared, it is then catalogued using the next available FMNH (Field Museum of Natural History) catalog number. This FMNH number subsumes, but never replaces, the field number nor negates its importance; there will always be data about a given specimen that are found in the field notes and nowhere else.