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UMMP Invertebrate Specimens
Specimens from the Invertebrate collection presented in Papers on Paleontology vol. 8.

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Trilobites
Eldredgeops rana crassituberculata presented in Papers on Paleontology vol. 8.

Egypt Whale desert

Birket Qarun Formation
Central 'qalah' or 'citadel' in Wadi Al Hitan in late afternoon light.

Dr. Gingerich in the field

Dr. Philip Gingerich
Field work in the western desert of Fayum, Egypt.

Russia Field Work

Vertebra
Specimen from recent field work in Russia.

Russia 2012 Mastadon tooth

Finds in the Field
Mammoth bones uncovered in Sakha Republic, Russian Federation.

Field work

Work in the field.

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Quercus columbiana
UMMP specimen from Pickett Creek.

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Quercus prelobata
UMMP specimen from Pickett Creek.

Wilson Lesotho

Dr. Jeffrey Wilson
Cleaning up and preparing to mold the footprint of an early sauropod dinosaur.

Welcome

The University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (UMMP) is a research museum devoted to study the history of life, interpretation of its meaning, and sharing these experiences with students.

UMMP is the intellectual home of paleontology at Michigan. It provides staff, laboratory, and field support for faculty and students to enable new and original empirical investigations of the history of life.

UMMP provides space and facilities for conserving, organizing, and studying collections of fossil specimens and accompanying information resulting from field investigations.

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Research Features

Evolution of Whales from Land to Sea

Museum of Paleontology curator Philip Gingerich has led paleontological expeditions to Pakistan and Egypt since 1975.  One of these, in 1978, yielded some surprising finds:  teeth and the partial cranium of a 50 million year old cetacean so primitive it wasn’t clear at first that it was a whale.  (more...)