The vertebrate paleontology collection is housed in Bunker A-2. A modest collection, with no types, the emphasis is in Tertiary marine vertebrates and Pleistocene terrestrial vertebrates of the central and eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. The collection includes historic material from the New Orleans Academy of Sciences collection (donated in 1885), the 1884/1885 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, and material purchased from Ward's Natural Science Establishment in 1885.

The most frequently cited fauna is a late Pleistocene collection from Avery Island, Iberia Parish, Louisiana, in 1890. Another collection was made from Avery Island in the early 1960s. Other material of note includes collections from the Tunica Hills area of West Feliciana Parish, LA and Wilkinson Co., MS made in the 1960s and in 1974.

To arrange an examination of the paleontology material for research purposes, please contact Nelson Rios at nelson@museum.tulane.edu.