What is so good about an image library?

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  In science, a color picture costs a thousand dollars to publish!  Scientific knowledge has traditionally been distributed in printed media and contains few images due to prohibitive publication costs. 

 

The preservation of animals is very useful for many types of studies.  However, preservation destroys much information.  Additionally, access to the information in a preserved animal is slow and limited at best.  It can take months to years to obtain access to preserved specimens.