SHORT-BEAKED ECHIDNA Tachyglossus aculeatus (Shaw, 1792) (LC)

MZUT T406 (897); mount; unsexed ad.; Tasmania, Australia; I/1861; exchange with Ercole Turati from Milano;

MZUT T407 (540); mount; unsexed; Tasmania, Australia;

MZUT T408 (MACUT 326); skeleton; w.d.

Remarks: Count Ercole Turati (1829–1881) was a banker and a passionate naturalist based in Milano (Italy). He purchased and exchanged many natural history specimens and built up a very large private collection, in particular of birds (more than 20,000 specimens) which, after his death, were donated to the Natural History Museum of Milano. Unfortunately, after the bombing in 1943, the collection was almost completely destroyed.