6/6/2023 0 Comments Are platypus endangeredThe River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri has come a long way, and with today’s improved native vegetation and water quality – thanks to lots of recovery work by many experts over the years – it’s the right time to investigate reintroducing platypuses to the river.Īlso, there is a strong population of rakali along the Torrens today, so if the river is supporting these native mammals already, platypuses may have a good chance at a good life there too. This is due to the tannins in Australian vegetation and soil. The Torrens is and always will be brownish like most of Australia’s rivers, like the River Murray. We think so…and the scoping study will give Green Adelaide the information to make this call. Is the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri healthy enough for platypuses to survive? Returning platypuses to the river would be an incredible mark of success for Adelaide’s ‘Hills to the sea’ 85 km River Torrens restoration efforts over the last 40 years. There are records of platypuses living along the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri in the early 1800s, and they are now a missing vital part of the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri ecosystem. Plus, having these interesting creatures in Adelaide’s waterways again could also be a nature-tourism drawcard. So, if platypuses can be successfully reintroduced to the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri, this will mean a healthier ecosystem for other native species like long-necked turtles and native water rats (rakali). The iconic Australian platypus is what is known to ecologists as an umbrella species – meaning that conserving them and their habitat will result in many other species also being conserved. These types of animals are known as monotremes – mammals that lay eggs, and have no teats. Oh, and they lay eggs – just like echidnas do. They are a unique mammal with a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver, fur like an otter, and webbed feet like… we’re back to ducks again. Platypuses are listed as a threatened species in Australia and are endangered in South Australia. Here’s everything you need to know: Why focus on the platypus? Our friends at Green Adelaide are leading the development of a six-month scoping study to better understand the possibility of bringing platypus back to the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri. While there has been an absence of platypuses in the wild on mainland SA, this could soon very well change. With eDNA (environmental DNA) sampling taking place nowadays, this could soon be another option to get proof of these platypus populations.īut back to the story. There were some sightings in the Riverland during the 1990s, and more recently in 2018, but unfortunately there isn’t any evidence of populations – in social media world we’d just say: ‘pics or it didn’t happen’. Today, platypuses can only be reliably found in the wild on Kangaroo Island, after a successful translocation in the 1920s. (Image courtesy of the State Library of South Australia – B 26486) River Torrens looking east in approximately the 1900s when the river became degraded and platypus numbers dropped. It’s a far cry from the late 1880s when they were common in the city’s River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri and some other Greater Adelaide waterways. Platypuses have been considered extinct from the wild on mainland South Australia since the mid-1970s.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |