The Mammal Lab is part of the New York State Education Department.
National Geographic Photographer, Christian Ziegler, gets up close and personal with an ocelot.
Chip Foster snow tracking otters as they slide into the river.
We do a number of regular programs every year including a Mammal Walk (early summer, Thatcher park), a coyote walk (Fall, Albany Pine Bush), a snow tracking program (winter, Albany Pine Bush), and talks on evolution (Darwin Day, February, NYS Museum). Mammal Lab Scientists are available to give talks on our research or lead field programs. Contact Roland Kays, rkays@mail.nysed.gov
We keep a checklist of mammal species from New York, and have also written a summary of the state's mammalian fauna.
Dr. Kays is author of Mammals of North America and contributes to a companion website with additional information about our fauna. This includes a unique tool to generate a mammal checklist specific to any part of North America (e.g. your back yard, your next vacation spot) and even use this checklist to create a customized field guide.
Two black bears captured by a museum camera-trap in the Adirondacks.
A puma from the "extirpated species" exhibit in the NYS Museum.
The official checklist of mammalian species of the world is available through the Smithsonian. The best places to look for more details on particular species are the student-authored Animal Diversity Web or the professionally written and peer-reviewed Mammalian Species Accounts published by the American Society of Mammalogists. Range maps for all mammals are available from Natureserve.
A mock-charge by an elephant in Tzavo, Africa.