Exploring the hidden stories of CSIRO’s natural history vaults

By  Sarah-Jane Stevenson 28 August 2025 3 min read

“What do you do with your genitalia?” In most workplaces, discussions about genitalia would be inappropriate. But for two entomologists meeting for coffee, it’s not an extraordinary question.

As Andrea Wild explains in her latest book, Wild Collections, genitalia are important to distinguish species. Ms Wild devotes a whole chapter to tales of genitalia and the weird and wonderful ways we can get information about animals.

Sections of the chapter read a bit like a teen romance novel, if that novel were for sharks, as Ms Wild and CSIRO researcher, Dr Helen O’Neill from the Australian National Fish Collection, delve into the mating habits of sharks – and yes their genitalia.

In the book we learn that male sharks and rays have not one, but two penises, known as claspers. And that’s just the beginning.

Did you know male sharks give female sharks love bites (not the official scientific name)?

“Male sharks bite the females while mating to help them stay in place…Females have actually evolved thicker skin than males to cope with bites during mating,” Dr O’Neill explains in the book.

A love letter to science

Wild Collections is more than just quirky facts. It’s a celebration of the people behind the science at the National Research Collections Australia, told with warmth, wit and wonder.

The collections hold more than 15 million natural history specimens offering valuable insight into Australian biodiversity. At the recent opening of a new facility in Canberra, which now houses 13 million of these specimens, Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Tony Haymet commented on the integral nature of the collections for scientific research.

“Our collections are irreplaceable and they get more and more valuable every year,” Professor Tony Haymet said.

Wild Collections opens a door to the hidden worlds inside the collections’ vaults. With title headings such as ‘An Alien Among Aliens’, ‘Stan Lee And His Insect Assassins’ and ‘Jumping Fossils’, the book has you hooked like a favourite binge-worthy series.

Driven by wonder and awe

When launching Wild Collections Ms Wild, who works as a communications advisor for National Research Collections Australia, shared what drives her passion for storytelling, the people studying the specimens in the collections.

“When I ask the people who work in this building, who wander through its vaults, and wonder about the things it holds, ‘What do you do?’, in the stories they tell me there is not just the experience of wonder, but that of awe,” she said.

“Awe is a transformative experience. You are not the same after as you were before. Through this book, overcoming the procrastination and desperation that was involved in extracting its words from my brain, I offer you the experience of awe.

“I hope you will find it in the sharks living in sponges, the orchid flowering underground, the Spotted Handfish guarding its eggs, the weevil rolling dung just like a scarab does, the Giant Kelp towering in Tasmania’s seas, the quirky tales of worm bums, the darkling beetles undertaking a decathlon and the curlicues of shark’s eggs.”

With so many great specimens, it is no surprise that Wild Collections is packed with stories that will change the way you see the natural world.

Jurassic lark

Towards the end of writing the book, Ms Wild is approached by Dr David Yeates, Director of the Australian National Insect Collection at CSIRO with a tantalising question.

“Would you like to know whether mosquitoes bit dinosaurs?” Dr Yeates asks.

“Of course I want to know this – everyone does!” Ms Wild replies.

But that is a story you’ll need to discover for yourself. Head to CSIRO Publishing and get yourself a copy of Wild Collections!