The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History has over 144 million different specimens in its collections, but only about one percent are on display to the public. That other 99 percent? Deep in the archives, available only to scientists for research and study — and, now, us! Let's dive in. | Great Big Story

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum houses 147 million specimens — everything from pickled animals to priceless gems to dinosaur bones. But less than 1% of it's on display. The rest is hidden behind the scenes in what's called collections. But they're not just sitting in storage rooms collecting dust. The specimens are actively used for scientific research with real-world benefits, from preventing bird strikes to documenting invasive species. We went inside the collections to see how they acq

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