The Wildlife Biodiversity Bank Explorer (WBB Explorer) shares the presence of specific biobanking material types held in two of the WBB subcollections: The Frozen Zoo® and the DNA & Tissue Bank.
Biodiversity Explorer
Selection
Species Details
About the Wildlife Biodiversity Bank (WBB) Explorer
The Wildlife Biodiversity Bank (WBB) Explorer is an interactive platform developed by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) to increase the discoverability of biodiversity banking collections and support conservation research worldwide. The Explorer provides a window into the taxonomic breadth of specimens safeguarded within the Wildlife Biodiversity Bank and is intended to facilitate collaboration among researchers, conservation practitioners, and wildlife managers working to prevent species extinction.
This tool includes information from two of the six Wildlife Biodiversity Bank Subcollections, the Frozen Zoo®, the world's first and largest collection of cryopreserved living wildlife cells, and the DNA & Tissue Bank, which holds non-living genetic resources. Established in 1975, the Frozen Zoo now safeguards biomaterials from more than 1,300 species and subspecies.
The WBB Explorer is being released in phases. Our inaugural deployment features approximately 300 vertebrate species, selected because they share comparable sample types and collectively represent broad taxonomic diversity across fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Future releases will expand the Explorer to include additional vertebrate species as well as the growing collections of plants, marine invertebrates, insects, and other biodiversity resources housed within the Wildlife Biodiversity Bank.
Requesting Biomaterials
The Wildlife Biodiversity Bank exists to support non-commercial conservation, research, education, and species recovery efforts. Because many biomaterials represent finite and irreplaceable resources collected over decades, requests for access are carefully evaluated to ensure their use maximizes conservation benefit while preserving the long-term value of the collections.
All requests are reviewed by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Biomaterials Review Group (BRG). Applications are evaluated based on scientific merit, conservation impact, sample availability, ethical and regulatory considerations, and the responsible stewardship of these unique collections.
Researchers interested in requesting biomaterials should complete the SDZWA Biomaterials Review Group Application .
Questions regarding sample availability or the application process may be directed to brg@sdzwa.org.
Suggested Citation
When referencing the WBB Explorer in publications, reports, or presentations, please cite:
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. (2026). Wildlife Biodiversity Bank (WBB) Explorer. Retrieved [Accessed Date], from https://wbbe.sdzinstitute.org/
A Living Resource
The WBB Explorer is an evolving platform. Species records, specimen inventories, metadata, and visualization tools will continue to expand as additional collections are digitized, curated, and made available.
We welcome feedback from the conservation community as we continue to develop this resource in support of our shared mission to safeguard Earth's biodiversity. For questions about this tool contact css-biobanking@sdzwa.org.