The curious case of the Dana platypus and what it can teach us about how lead shotgun pellets behave in fluid preserved museum specimens and may limit their scientific value

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309845
• Publication Date: 2024-10-18T17:28:12Z
• Authors: Henrik Lauridsen; Daniel Klingberg ...; Christina Carøe E...; Kasper Hansen; Michiel Krols; Kristian Murphy G...; Julie Nogel Jæger; Catherine Jane Al...; Ditte-Mari Sandgreen; Aage Kristian Ols...; Mads Frost Bertelsen; Peter Rask Møller
• Keywords: Platypus

Fluid preserved animal specimens in the collections of natural history museums constitute an invaluable archive past and present diversity. Well-preserved have a shelf-life spanning centuries are widely used for e.g. anatomical, taxonomical genetic studies. The way were collected depended on type historical setting. As many small mammals birds historically by shooting, large quantities heavy metal residues, primarily lead, may been introduced into sample form lead shot pellets. Over time, these pellets react with tissue fluids and/or fixation preservation agents corrode salts. chemicals toxic, they could health issue to collection staff. Additionally, element interfere several imaging technologies increasingly non-invasive studies, confound anatomical pathological investigations affected specimens. Here we case-study based platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus ) other containing from Natural History Museum Denmark.