Loss of a Priceless Collection of Biological Specimens

This is tragic:

Members of the Instituto Butantan said the nearly 100-year-old collection lost in Saturday’s fire included almost 80,000 snakes and several thousand specimens of spiders and scorpions. The specimens were used to study evolution and provided information on how to avert extinctions, said institute director Otavio Mercadante.

“The entire collection was lost, the biggest collection of snakes in the world,” curator Francisco Franco told Globo TV and other local media. “It’s a loss to humanity.”