Mounted specimen - Platypus - Nest with whole platypus mounted specimen

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Zoological specimens
Materials: Animal material - non specific, Plant material - non specific
Collection: MacKenzie collection
Accession number: 1984.0010.2332

Description

A platypus nest made of various plant material with a whole platypus mounted specimen.

This is part of the extensive collection of platypus wet specimens and nests brought together by the self-confessed ‘platypoditudarian’ Henry James Burrell (1873-1945). Burrell was a keen amateur naturalist with a particular interest in platypuses. He developed this interest while living in northern NSW from 1901. He was the first person to successfully keep platypuses in captivity. He studied them over many years, collecting specimens and taking photographs. In 1927 he published The Platypus which at that time was the definitive work on the platypus.Burrell presented his collection of platypuses and nests to Colin MacKenzie for the museum of the Australian Institute of Anatomy. With the closure of the Institute, this collection was transferred to the National Museum after its creation in 1980.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 4:58:30 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-09-08. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.