The San Diego Natural History Museum Department of Herpetology focuses on the study of amphibians and reptiles. Resources are available to scientists to help better understand amphibian and reptile biology and conserve species when their existence is threatened. The great diversity of amphibian and reptile species is preserved for scientific research in the form of alcohol-preserved and skeletal specimens. The herpetology collection holds over 76,000 catalogued specimens (73,300 fluid-preserved specimens and 3,100 skeletons with 212 primary and 500 secondary types) dating back to the 1890s. The collection has been built over the past century and is actively being added to today. All cataloged specimens are computer databased which allows for any combination of taxonomic and geographic records to be searched.