They acquire items through purchases, gifts, field exploration, intermuseum loans, or, in the case of some plants and animals, hybridization and breeding. Curators also plan and prepare exhibits. In natural history museums, curators collect and observe specimens in their natural habitat. Much of their work involves describing and classifying species. They conduct more research than other curators, who spend much of their time managing collections.
Most curators specialize in fields such as botany, art, paleontology, or history.
Those working in large institutions may be highly specialized. A large natural history museum, for example, would have specialists in birds, fishes, insects, and mollusks. Furthermore, in large institutions, most curators specialize in particular functions. Some maintain the collection while others perform administrative tasks. Registrars, for example, are responsible for keeping track of and moving objects in the collection.