Platypus
Nature & People
Physical Description
The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a dark brown, semi-aquatic mammal – about the same length and half the weight of a domestic Cat – with webbed feet, a flat, fleshy tail and a rubbery, ducklike bill for its mouth and nose. The male has poison spurs on its hind legs. The name Platypus means 'flat feet'.
Where is it Found?
The Platypus is found in eastern Australia’s coastal and mountainous regions, from Tasmania to North Queensland, in creeks, rivers, ponds and billabongs.
Ecology
Platypuses are monotremes – laying eggs rather than bearing live young. The young are born with milk-teeth, which they lose as they mature. Platypuses are shy and mostly nocturnal, living in burrows in the banks of waterbodies. They feed on riverbed animals such as insect larvae and yabbies, which they find using receptors in their bills.
Threats
The Platypus is threatened by alterations to natural river courses, such as pollution (including sedimentation and stagnation), streambank erosion, dams and water extraction. Another major threat is from a range of fishing techniques, including nets and traps that can capture and drown Platypuses.
Conservation Measures
The Platypus is not listed as threatened, but its populations are declining. Ways to help maintain the species include through education, research, and repeated surveys to examine causes where populations are rapidly declining. The relatively undisturbed condition of many Great Eastern Ranges rivers and streams is a great benefit to Platypus conservation.
Did You Know?
Platypuses have 2 layers of fur: a coarse outer layer, and an inner layer so dense water rarely reaches the skin. When the 1st Platypus specimen was sent to England in 1799 it was considered a clever hoax; a Duck’s bill sewn onto an Otter. In 1836 Charles Darwin saw a Platypus at Wallerawang, in the ranges behind Sydney, an event significant in the formulation of his ideas regarding natural selection. The Platypus was mentioned by him in his Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of HMS Beagle.
