Once the data about the fossil have been collected, paleontologists decide what they'll do with the specimen. One possibility is to store the specimen in the Museum's collections.

• What's displayed in the Museum's fossil halls is less than one percent of all the fossils in the Museum's collections.
• Some of the Museum's fossils are stored in a large, state-of-the-art facility in Maryland, where controlled temperatures and humidity helps preserve them. These conditions are needed for the long-term conservation of important or unique specimens.