the mammal specimens (skulls, skeletons, skin, horns, etc.) in the powell-cotton museum are exhibits as well as objects of study. some academics from universities and research institutes such as university of cambridge, university college london, university of sheffield, university of kent, university of exeter, the university of bradford, university of the witwatersrand, university of california, université sorbonne nouvelle - paris iii, university of melbourne, universitat autonoma de barcelona, canterbury christchurch university, norfolk and norwich university hospital and university of veterinary medicine vienna used to visit this museum in order to obtain skeletal data, collect samples for dna or dietary analysis and so on. one of the famous academic visitors is professor colin groves of the australian national university, whose research interests include but are not limited to mammalian taxonomy (especially primate taxonomy), human evolution and taxonomic history of mammals. in addition to the specimens preserved in the museums such as natural history museum (london), muséum national d’histoire naturelle (paris), museum voor middenafrika (tervuren), naturalis (leiden), musée royale d’histoire naturelle (brussels), kenya national museums (nairobi), zoologisches museum a. humboldt (berlin) and museum a. koenig (bonn), he also utilized the mammal specimens provided by the powell-cotton museum and hence conducted many comparative studies, for example, he used to measure the skulls of northern white rhinoceros, and examine the colobus material and the specimens of musk-deer at the museum. some of these studies can be found in his noted book “primate taxonomy” which is considered to relabel museum cabinets. and, he thought highly of the powell-cotton museum.