![]() The results were alarming, prompting project leader Professor Richard Kingsford, director of the UNSW Centre for Ecosystem Science, to say, “We have great concerns about the future survival of this unique species.” While platypuses seem to have been able to withstand whatever has been thrown at them for millions of years, research shows they’re now doing it tough.Ī three-year University of NSW investigation that wrapped up last year examined records for the species for the past 200 years and compared them with extensive new field investigations on rivers in NSW and northern Victoria. Phil Palmer spotted this #Platypus at our Liffey River Reserve in Tasmania! As you can see, Platypuses are expert swimmers using their webbed feet to propel themselves and their tails to steer through the water □ /hh3AmpZ3BU “On the odd occasion they need to go to the vet it’s usually because they’ve been a little bit too mischievous, a little too inquisitive and have got into something they shouldn’t have.” Injuries, however, Jessica says, usually heal remarkably quickly. “Towards the end, when the young are almost independent, it will only be every second day that she goes back and even then she’d only be in the nest for about half an hour while she feeds them and then leaves,” Jessica says. By about halfway through that period, however, they will have grown fur and their mothers will have started spending increasingly longer spans of time away looking for food to support their milk production. ![]() Mothers forgo much of this foraging time during the first weeks after their babies hatch, rarely leaving the burrow to feed, and relying on fat stored in their tails for energy.Īfter about four months, the young are ready to venture out of the nesting burrow. ![]() “Then as they got older, almost when they were about to emerge from the burrow and go into the water, they’d wander around, chew on bits of grass, and really investigate by pushing their bills around the edges and even up to the camera,” Jessica says.Īdult platypuses forage for up to 12 hours a day, staying under water with eyes, nostrils and ears closed for up to two and a half minutes at a time, before rising to breathe. ![]()
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