Aportes y retos de la Colección de Mamíferos “Alberto Cadena García” del Instituto de Ciencias Naturales al conocimiento de este grupo en Colombia

The Mammal Collection “Alberto Cadena Garcia” of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales has specimens of great heritage and biological value for the knowledge of Colombian mammals, which is specified through the availability of information associated with these specimens and its relevance for teaching, research in different areas and access to information by the general public. To uncover the impact that the Collection has had, the taxonomic, geographical and temporal representativeness of the specimens was examined by analyzing the information associated with them and review of literature related to their use. The Collection has specimens of all orders of Colombian mammals, 80.5 % of the species reported for Colombia, and specimens for all departments of the country. On the other hand, the Collection has also contributed to the training in mammalogy of numerous undergraduate Biology students, in the development of 167 undergraduate and thesis projects on various topics, more than 100 publications in recent years, and the visit of 190 researchers, nationals and foreigners, in the last ten years. Given the impact that the Collection has, it is important to strengthen the processes of dissemination of information and search for alliances so that the Collection continues to contribute to the knowledge of the diversity of mammals in the country.