Photo:TWD
Platypus Populations in Danger in Australia
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | NOVEMBER 22nd 2020
According to Australian scientists, the platypus habitats in the country had seen a 22% decrease since 1990, over the course of only 30 years time. Scientists have been pushing for the species to be put on a vulnerable species list as a result.
A recent report led to the revelation that over the past 30 years, the habitats of the semi-aquatic mammals native to Australia – the Platypus, have decreased by more than a fifth of the quantity they used to be in the year 1990. According to the report, this is a change that can largely be attributed to climate change.
The report was made by a team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), who stated that since 1990, the land loss is equivalent to about 200,000 square kilometres. Though drought perpetuated by climate change is largely to blame for this, it’s also been found that such changes as increased dam building and land-clearing projects for farming purposes can also be noted as severe causes.
“Protecting the platypus and the rivers it relies on must be a national priority for one of the world's most iconic animals,” said Professor Richard Kingsford, the lead author of the report and director of the university’s Centre for Ecosystem Science. “There is a real concern that platypus populations will disappear from some of our rivers without returning, if rivers keep degrading with droughts and dams.”
The platypus is a highly unique animal, being that it is a water-dependant mammal with the uncharacteristic attributes of a duck-like bill and webbed feet. They tend to live around river and stream banks where they lay their eggs and rely on the habitats for food, typically across the Eastern seaboard of Australia.
Over the years, the populations of the platypus have halved along with the decrease of their habitats. According to a study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) back in 2016, the species numbers in Australia were somewhere between 30,000 and 300,000.
The study found that the total habitat losses could amount to an area almost three times that size of that of Tasmania. The largest of these losses were observed to be in Queensland (27% loss) and New South Wales (32% loss).
