The Graham Ross Marine Mammal Collection of the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, reached a milestone late last year with the accessioning of specimen number PEM N4000, making it one of the largest marine mammal collections in the world. Marine mammals have been collected by the museum since 1901, when a southern right whale skeleton was obtained by F.W. FitzSimmons, the farsighted director of the museum at the time. A true marine mammal collection was only started, however, with the appointment of the equally visionary Graham Ross in the late 1960s. He remained the curator for some twenty years. Graham was followed by the energetic Vic Cockroft, who ensured that the collection continued to grow in strength and value. While the collection was without a curator from Vics departure for about seven years, it was looked after by research technician Wendy Kant and continued to grow. Besides those already mentioned, a number of others have contributed to the growth and management of the collection including Vanessa Isaacs, Mzi Mahola, Mike Mtati, Thithi Sodi, Carolyn Stewardson, Gillian Watson and Debbie Young. Currently the collection comprises 39 species of extant cetaceans, a number of fossil cetaceans, 12 species of pinnipeds and one species of sirenian. The collection contains important material of a number of rare and little known species including humpback dolphins, both pygmy and dwarf sperm whales, and nine species of extant ziphiids. Amongst the latter specimens, the poorly known Longmans and Hectors beaked whales are included. It also includes the type specimen for the fossil beaked whale, _Izikoziphius rossi_. The majority of the specimens originate from strandings and bycatch along the southern and eastern coasts of South Africa, although pinnipeds from Southern Ocean islands are also well represented. Over the last few decades numerous scientists have visited and used the collection for their research, including Nelio Barros, Peter Best, Merel Dalebout, Tom Jefferson, Toshio Kasuya, Cath Kemper and Klaas Post. The collection continues to grow by some 80 specimens per year. Current efforts to increase the value of the collection include ensuring access to new specimens through new institutional links, a revitalised programme for processing specimens in detail, new educational programmes and the reorganisation of the collection. The specimen in question (N4000) is the skull of a Subantarctic fur seal collected in the Subantarctic in 1998 by Steve Kirkman as part of the Southern Ocean research programme run by Marthán Bester of the Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria. Greg Hofmeyr (curator) & Dr. Stephanie Plön (research associate) Greg Hofmeyr (marine mammal biologist & curator) Bayworld (Port Elizabeth Museum, Oceanarium & Snakepark) P.O.Box 13147, Humewood 6013, Port Elizabeth, South Africa Tel: +27 (0)41 584 0650, Fax: +27 (0)41 584 0661 Email: greg@bayworld.co.za <mailto:greg@bayworld.co.za>