Analysis from a team of scientists found keratin - the same protein in human hair - that makes up each ombre spike holds a chemical signature that points to the monotreme's diet.

Those clues signal whether an echidna has been raised in the wild or in captivity, and could be pinpointed to a geographical area to work out where the animal was from.

It could eventually help arm those fighting against illegal trafficking of Australian native animals, like echidnas, and the world's most trafficked mammal, the endangered pandolin.

That's the ambition of one group of scientists working inside a glass-panelled laboratory at the zoo's new $37 million Taronga Institute of Science and Learning.

The research and education hub will likely attract international attention when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex officially open its new building on Tuesday - the first day of their Australian tour.

"One of the biggest issues in the illegal wildlife trade at the moment is that they don't know where these animals are coming from," conservation scientist Phoebe Meagher  said.

Traffickers who were caught with endangered wildlife often produced forged documents in an attempt to prove the animals had been raised in captivity.

"We know they're actually just poaching them from the wild. The issue is, how do we prove they've been taken from the wild?"

Dr Meagher was on the team that used research on echidnas from the zoo and from native environments to help unlock the scientific code found in animal's quills, fur, feathers and scales.

"There was a significant difference and we could tell with 98 per cent accuracy whether they had been raised in captivity or in the wild," she said.

Dr Meagher said the team had "blue-sky ideas" of working towards a global keratin library based at the institute and a tool to help test the provenance of animals suspected of being trafficked.

The purpose-built institute features five research laboratories, one of which contains a cryodiversity lab to preserve coral sperm cells that could be used to reseed the Great Barrier Reef.

There are also three immersive classrooms that mimic the climate and geography of a rainforest, woodland and desert. They are home to animals including bilbies and cotton-top tamarins.

Conservation manager Dr Justine O'Brien said the hub was "a first for the southern hemisphere".

"It brings together our specialist science team, our wildlife conservation officers and our education team all under the same roof," she said.

"We are working together to tackle some really big conservation issues that wildlife and ecosystems face."

A team of terrestrial ecologists at the institute are looking at the native Australian animals, including bandicoots, microbats and sugar gliders that consider the zoo their native habitat.

Marine ecologists bring back data from the field on the migratory habits of penguins, seals and sea lions, while another group has delved into the social structures of shark populations.

Taronga's chief executive Cameron Kerr hoped the hub would inspire students and boost collaboration between zoo experts, who were involved in 60 research and conservation projects around the world.