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LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 17: A duck billed platypus is pictured at UCL's (University College London) Grant Museum of Zoology on July 17, 2017 in London, England. The piece has recently had conservation work including an iron rod that had been pretruding from it's bill removed. The animals feet which are pointing in the wrong direction have been left as they offer invaluable evidence of the ways these animals were historically understood. The Grant Museum of Zoology was founded in 1892 and is London's only remaining university zoological museum, housing around 68,000 specimens from across the Animal Kingdom. The museum is currently embarking on a project to conserve and repair some of their historic taxidermy, which has been on display for over a hundred years. Many of the specimens have begun to crack and split, with filling and stuffing required to ensure their long-term future. Expert museum conservators have selected several pieces ranging in size from a chimpanzee to an elephant shrew. Careful consideration is given to every piece regarding retaining any 'historical' inaccuracies in the animals' appearance. Historically taxidermy is often quite inacurate, with skins often sent from overseas, and 'stuffed' or prepared by people who had never even seen the animal. The most famous example being the huge Walrus at the Horniman Museum in South West London. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)