The world’s largest platypus conservation center has welcomed its first residents as part of a project to protect the semi-aquatic mammal found only in Australia.
The four platypuses — two females and two males — were released over the past two weeks into a custom-built research facility at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, about 400km northwest of Sydney.
Featuring multitiered streams, waterfalls, pools and earth banks for burrowing, the facility would help researchers understand more about the species, Taronga Conservation Society Australia official Phoebe Meagher told reporters.
Photo: Reuters
“This facility will allow us to not only save the species from the immediate threats of climate change, but also in the long term, be able to repopulate those populations,” Meagher said. “We would love to see some puggles, or baby platypus, in the facility and understand what led to that reproductive success.”
The facility was formed as a partnership between the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the University of New South Wales, the New South Wales state government and wildlife rescue organization WIRES.
Boasting a bill like a duck, webbed feet and a beaver-like tail, platypus are unique to Australia. The nocturnal mammals lay eggs and live mostly across the eastern seaboard, from the far north of Queensland to the island state of Tasmania, close to rivers and streams whose beds and banks they forage for food.
Platypus numbers might have more than halved over several decades, research models show, but figures are hard to pinpoint.
Environmental groups estimate the total population at 30,000 to 300,000.
“Sadly, we’re not leaving many places left in the wild for platypus,” Meagher said. “So these platypus that we have here ... will really fill those knowledge gaps and allow us to help save this species.”
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