![]() ![]() “If your platypuses are doing well, the river is probably in pretty good shape,” he adds. In the long run, researchers hope that platypuses can become the “new sentinels” of the country’s rivers, says Richard Kingsford, an ecologist and the director of the Center for Ecosystem Science at the University of New South Wales, in the university statement. The platypus translocation is a collaborative project involving the University of New South Wales, the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, WWF-Australia and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Their populations have declined by as much as 31 to 65 percent in some areas, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists them as “ near threatened.” And beyond that, we want to see these platypus spreading out.”Ī post shared by UNSW found throughout Tasmania and eastern Australia, platypuses have been facing a “silent extinction” because of a variety of threats, including predators, pollution, bushfires, deforestation and drought, according to WWF-Australia. “If they do, then obviously breeding, the establishing of burrows and a next generation is a midterm success indicator. “We’re just looking to see if these platypus survive,” says Rob Brewster, the rewilding program manager for WWF-Australia, to the ABC. Then, ideally, the park’s newest residents will mate, multiply and thrive. Then, the platypuses were outfitted with transmitters that will track their movements as they adjust to their new home.Ĭonservationists translocated the females first to give them a chance to get acclimated before the more rambunctious males arrive, which will happen a week to ten days later. Before their re-release into the wild, the mammals spent time at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, which opened a new platypus rescue and rehabilitation center to care for them. It should provide the founding group of ten platypuses with plenty to eat-researchers found a healthy population of caddis fly larvae, shrimp, dragonfly nymphs and other macroinvertebrates.īiologists collected the platypuses from various populations in southeastern New South Wales to help ensure genetic diversity. They’ve also been studying the park’s water quality and food availability, per the ABC.Įstablished in 1879, Royal National Park is the oldest national park in Australia and the second oldest in the world, reports Reuters’ James Redmayne. Conservationists have been preparing the local ecosystem for the platypuses’ return by reducing the number of predators in the area, such as cats and foxes. Experts suspect a nearby chemical spill during that decade wiped out platypuses within the park, however, the elusive creatures may have already been struggling, reports the Isobel Roe for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.īut after years of careful planning, wildlife experts hope the creatures will re-establish a foothold in the park’s waterways, including the Hacking River, where they were released. The duck-billed, egg-laying mammals haven’t been recorded within the park’s bounds since the 1970s. On Friday, wildlife officials released four females inside Royal National Park, located south of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, with plans to introduce two additional females and four males in the near future, according to a statement from the University of New South Wales. This is your only chance to get up close to our shy national treasure.Platypuses are back at Australia’s oldest national park after disappearing from it roughly 50 years ago. ![]() We visit Healesville Sanctuary where guests can “wade with a platypus”. ![]() Oceania Tours runs a unique Platypus tour where you can meet a platypus. Instead of giving birth to live young like most mammals, platypus lays eggs!įarming, damming, altered drainage, and chemical pollutants continue to degrade the habitat of platypus. To describe them, think of an animal with the bill of a duck, a tail of a beaver and the feet of an otter. While common in Eastern Australia most people will never see a platypus as they only wake for early sunrise and sunset. To read more about the great work that Zoos Victoria does, or to adopt your own platypus, visit Zoos Victoria is a not-for-profit organisation committed to fighting wildlife extinction. ![]() We have teamed up with Zoos Victoria to support the Platypus through the Wild Platypus Adoptions Program. Because juveniles are not normally seen by people at an earlier stage of development, there has historically never been any need to adopt a specific term. Oceania Tours is proud to introduce the newest member of our family, ![]()
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