Needless to say, expeditions not only bring material for scientific study that will be available long after the species have gone extinct in the wild, but also document vanishing nature all over the planet. We lump here many different kinds of collecting activities under the heading of Expeditions. The association with colonial exploration including numerous slave laborers and search for only spectacular objects, is definitely false. Most collecting now is done by students or single researchers with limited funding, and often in close collaboration with local institutions sharing the material assembled. The objective is generally to obtain scientifically useful specimens, that may increase understanding of the evolution of the earth and its biota.
Scientific collections have no commercial value.
We list here also various Natural History Cabinets that have been integrated with the NRM collections. Such cabinets have an interesting and varied history, but contrast in scientific value with biologically oriented collecting activities, because the animals in them were acquired for their value as curiosities, and they generally lack collecting data.