South Australian Museum Mammalogy Collection

There are over 24,000 specimens in this collection, including skulls, skins, skeletons, spirit specimens, photographs and frozen tissue. It includes over 1600 marine mammals and its comprehensiveness makes this collection the best of its kind in Australia. Other strengths of the collection include South Australian arid zone native mammals, many specimens of extinct species such as the thylacine and large numbers of bat species.

The collection has also historical importance as it includes many specimens from early expeditions in Australia and to the subantarctic Islands and Antarctica. Well-known people such as Sir Douglas Mawson, Edgar R. Waite and Hedley Finlayson have contributed to the collection.

The mammal collection includes sub-fossils and remains from owl pellets. This collection consists entirely of Australian material with 20000 - 25000 specimens covering 76 mammal species (including introduced species). The collection is made up of bulk bone deposits from the floor of caves, bones excavated from sinkholes, bones extracted from predator scats (eg. dingoes, foxes and Ghost Bats), pellets from birds of prey, particularly barn owls (both recent and pre-settlement material), and stick nest rat nests and middens. The sub-fossil collection is the second best of its kind in Australia.