Frozen penguin among millions of specimens moved to new home at CSIRO's National Collections Building
By Emily Anderson
Topic:Human Interest
18m ago18 minutes agoThu 27 Mar 2025 at 7:29pm
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In short:
Approximately 50,000 bird specimens have been rehomed to a new $70 million National Collections Building at the CSIRO in Canberra.
The collections include 99 per cent of Australia's native birds as well as exotic bird species, skeletons, mammals, reptiles stored in ethanol, eggs and frozen tissue.
Upstairs on the third level, movers have also finished rehousing the 12 million insect specimens belonging to the Australian National Insect Collection.
An emperor penguin that once roamed Antarctica will stay frozen in time for potentially hundreds more years at a facility in Canberra.
After it was found dead in a colony on a glacier in the 1970s, scientists removed the emperor penguin's organs, filled it with teddy bear stuffing and preserved it as realistically as possible, to be stored for historical research.
The penguin is one of 50,000 bird specimens recently rehomed to a new $70 million National Collections Building at the CSIRO.
The collections include 99 per cent of Australia's native birds as well as exotic bird species, skeletons, mammals, reptiles stored in ethanol, eggs and frozen tissue.
Three taxidermied birds on a metal slab.
The CSIRO's National Collections Building includes almost all of Australia's native birds as well as exotic bird species. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
"We don't consider ourselves taxidermists but specimen preparators," senior collections manager Tonya Haff said.
"We're not trying to make things look alive. The purpose is not museum display, the purpose is scientific research."
Researchers have been using these preserved specimens for decades, including the collection's oldest bird —a magpie lark collected in Sydney in 1871.
Pieces in a jigsaw
Australian National Wildlife Collection director Leo Joseph said the size of the collection meant scientists can determine how species have changed over time and space.
DNA extracted from the specimens can help researchers understand diet and behaviour of each animal.
Leo Joseph holding a tray of four taxidermied birds.
CSIRO National Wildlife Collection Director, Leo Joseph, says the collection's size helps scientists determine how species have changed over time. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)
"Any specimen is a data point that helps document our knowledge of biodiversity," he said.
"Every specimen is a small piece in a really big jigsaw."
The new vaults were engineered so specimens last "into perpetuity", Mr Joseph said, in a delicate process of balancing temperatures and airflow.
Specimens are sterilised at -35 degrees Celsius for two weeks before they are brought into the vaults which are kept at 16C with 50 per cent humidity.
The costly build, which was funded by the CSIRO and federal education department, began in 2022 and was completed in late 2024.
But birds are only a fraction of the CSIRO's collections.
Back from the dead
Dead insects on a tray at the CSIRO in Canberra.
DNA of CSIRO's Lord Howe Island stick insect specimens matched with DNA found in living stick insects, proving the species was not extinct, as previously believed. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
Upstairs on the third level, movers have also finished rehousing the 12 million insect specimens belonging to the Australian National Insect Collection.
It includes thousands of butterflies, beetles, moths, mites and flies from around the world.
The oldest is a weevil collected by Charles Darwin in Australia in 1836.
Some species are extinct or critically endangered including the Lord Howe Island stick insect which was mistakenly declared extinct in the 1920s.
Collection manager Federica Turco said the DNA of CSIRO's Lord Howe Island stick insects matched with DNA found in living stick insects reared in Melbourne, proving the species was still alive.
Fedeirca Turco holding a framed tray of dead pinned butterflies.
National Insect Collection Manager at the CSIRO, Fedeirca Turco, says within two decades the now-empty cabinets will be full. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
"We were able to do that only because we had these two very special specimens," Dr Turco said.
"The Lord Howe stick insect wasn't extinct in the end."
Dr Turco coordinated the move and is pleased no specimens were lost or broken.
Although each cabinet is carefully labelled, there are still many empty spaces.
"In 10 to 20 years, these are going to be full, because the collection grows," Dr Turco said.
Many specimens are donated from people's private collections.
"Insects are really quite good at preserving and that's the reason why so many people had an interest in them and build their own private collections over the centuries," Dr Turco said.
"If you keep it away from pests, they will keep for hundreds and hundreds of years."
Dead beetles in trays at the CSIRO in Canberra.
In the process of moving process specimens into the new National Collections Building at the CSIRO, none were damaged or lost. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)
Posted18m ago18 minutes agoThu 27 Mar 2025 at 7:29pm
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