• Celebrating AMRI Women in Science

    To celebrate this year’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we are profiling women from the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI).

    AMRI
    Composite image of Dr Laetitia Gunton, Elizabeth Dowding, Dr Pat Hutchings, Dr Amy Way, Dr Jackie Nguyen and Dr Isabel Hyman
  • Early Birds diary: A morning in January

    The Australian Museum's Early Birds program provides a reduced sensory and supportive environment for visitors on the autism spectrum or those who have other access requirements.

    At the Museum
    Early Birds Autism and Sensory Friendly Mornings 16 January 2021
  • Surrender Your Shell: Using DNA to protect the Hawksbill Turtle

    Did you know that real tortoiseshell products are made from the shell of critically endangered Hawksbill turtles? This illegal trade has brought the species to the brink of extinction. To learn more, the Australian Museum, WWF-Australia and Royal Caribbean International launch Surrender Your Shell.

    AMRI
    Hawksbill turtle
  • Recovery and discovery: rare snails on Lord Howe Island

    After more than a year rodent-free, two of the Critically Endangered land snails on Lord Howe Island are showing strong signs of recovery – and a closely related mystery species has also reappeared!

    AMRI
    Newly rediscovered species Pseudocharopa balli. Image: Justin Gilligan
  • This month in Archaeology: The origins of money

    This month in Archaeology, Dr Way discusses the origins of money examined in the recent PLoS ONE publication, ‘The origins of money: Calculation of similarity indexes demonstrates the earliest development of commodity money in prehistoric Central Europe’ by M.H.G. Kuijpers and C. N. Popa.

    AMRI
    Bundels of rings from Mauthausen hoard, Staatssammlung München. Photo by author.
  • FrogID Week 2020 – rapid citizen science data informing frog conservation

    FrogID, an AM citizen science initiative, is rapidly gathering the information we need to help understand and conserve Australia’s frogs.

    AMRI
    Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog (Litoria fallax) from NSW. Image: Jodi Rowley
  • Legacy of the Egypt Exploration Fund in the Australian Museum

    Since 1882 the Egypt Exploration Fund focused on digging for objects and distributing them widely to subscribing organisations around the world, including those in United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, India, Japan, and Australia.

    Science
    Fragment of tapestry band from Antinoe
  • What can we learn about wombat habitats from their poo?

    Microbes that live in the guts of mammals can be critical to their health and survival, yet we know little about the microbes that inhabit our unique Australian marsupials. Scientists from the University of Adelaide and the Australian Museum studied the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat to learn more.

    AMRI
    The Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
  • Myth or museum specimen? The animals that are more fact than fiction

    Famously featured in George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones franchise, the dire wolf is far more than a popular legend. A recent study in Nature has discovered how genetically distinct this prehistoric carnivore actually was. Read more about the study, and other animals thought to be pure myth.

    AMRI
    A pack of dire wolves (Canis dirus) are feeding on their bison kill, while a pair of grey wolves (Canis lupus) approach in the hopes of scavenging
  • A rainforest tree by the sea — Who are the pollinators?

    In Australia there are over 40 species of mangroves; despite their key role in coastal ecosystem function, we know relatively little about their reproductive ecology. Learn more about the pollinators involved, in this recent and pivotal study.

    AMRI
    an image of Apis mellifera
  • Is a deadly disease impacting amphibians on Vietnam’s highest mountains?

    Scientists from the Australian Museum, Indo-Myanmar Conservation and ZSL London Zoo search for frogs and the world’s worst wildlife disease in the mountains of northern Vietnam.

    AMRI
    The team swabs a frog for Bd and Bsal infection. Hoang Lien Range, Vietnam
  • Australia: home of the (prehistoric) crocs

    Opalised fossils help tell the story of a small crocodile that lived among the dinosaurs.

    AMRI
    Artists rendering of Isisfordia
  • Welcome new fanged friend: A new species of Fanged Frog discovered in Cambodia

    From the forests of northeastern Cambodia, another frog species new to science is scientifically named!

    AMRI
    Male Cambodian Fanged Frog (Limnonectes fastigatus)
  • Why we need to get taxonomy right

    Taxonomy and systematics comprise the describing, naming and classifying the natural world. By classifying the natural world, we can understand a species origins and interrelationships. So how do we get it right, and how do we get it wrong? We explore the world of marine invertebrates for more.

    AMRI
    Lateral view of Marphysa victori
  • Rare snail species found alive on Norfolk Island after 130 years

    The tiny, enigmatic snail was last collected in 1889 and is currently listed as extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). So, we were very excited to find Nancibella quintalae alive on Norfolk Island!

    AMRI
    Nancibella quintalae, until now thought to be extinct