The Platypus in Australia

The platypus, one of the world’s most extraordinary and enigmatic animals, is native to Australia. This unique creature, with its distinctive duck-bill, webbed feet, and beaver-like tail, has fascinated scientists and nature enthusiasts alike since its discovery. Known for its unusual characteristics and elusive nature, the platypus is an iconic symbol of Australia’s rich biodiversity.

Biology and physical characteristics

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) belongs to a group of egg-laying mammals known as monotremes, which also includes the echidna. It is renowned for its distinctive features:

• Soft and dense coat: The platypus coat is soft and dense, with a texture similar to that of a beaver’s fur. It is mainly dark brown with a thick, bushy tail.
• Flat, thick tail: The platypus tail is flat and thick, which helps the animal swim by providing propulsion and acting as a rudder.
• Forelegs: The forelegs of the platypus are short and powerful, with five toes at the ends. Each of these toes is covered with a strong claw, which helps the animal to dig and swim.
• Webbed hind legs: Though the Platypus has four webbed feet, it only uses its front legs to move through the water.
• On average, a platypus dives for 30 to 35 seconds in search of food. It could very well stay underwater for more than 3 minutes. It is believed that the Platypus can dive up to 70 times in just one hour.
• It has a gray-bluish jaw, which is often called a beak. This jaw has sensory organs that allows it to locate its prey in the water.
• Thick skin: The skin of the platypus is thick and leathery, which helps it to resist attacks from predators and impacts with rocks and obstacles underwater.
• Size and weight: The platypus is a small animal. Its adult size is between 40 and 50 centimetres and does not vary from one geographical region to another. However, in southern Australia the animal tends to be relatively “fat” compared to those in the north. This is due to the difference of climate and cold changes.
• In the Platypus’s natural Australian habitat, it can live an average life of ten years.

Interesting Fact

Males have a spur on each hind leg connected to a venom gland. It’s one of the very few venomous mammals in the world — and the venom is no joke: not lethal to humans, but it causes excruciating pain that can last for weeks and doesn’t respond well to standard painkillers.

Males only produce venom during the breeding season, and only use the spur when threatened or competing with rival males. Researchers have since found that a hormone in platypus venom shows promise for treating type 2 diabetes — though extracting it without harming the animal remains the obstacle.

Habitat & Diet

Platypuses are typically found in freshwater environments in eastern Australia, including Tasmania. They inhabit rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds, preferring areas with dense vegetation along the banks. These habitats provide ample food sources and burrowing sites for nesting.

Females build a network of burrows along with their habitat in the same manner as rabbits. The burrows are intertwined with several chambers, one being used especially for the laying of the female’s eggs.

Platypuses forage underwater in bursts of 30 to 140 seconds, scooping up insect larvae, shrimp, worms, mussels and tadpoles into cheek pouches, then chewing at the surface. They have no teeth — they grind their food between horny plates.

The remarkable part is how they hunt. Underwater, a platypus closes its eyes, ears and nostrils — it is effectively blind and deaf while feeding. Instead it uses electroreception: thousands of receptors in the bill detect the faint electrical signals given off by the muscle contractions of its prey. Almost no other mammal can do this.

Source and further reading: Australian Museum — Platypus

Reproduction of the platypus

The Platypus belongs to the monotreme family. Like echidna, they are the only oviparous mammal, meaning that they lay eggs!

The female Platypus are territorial therefore the males move along the rivers and waterways during the breeding season in search of a mate. The males compete for a female to decide which of them can mate with her. This fight is not violent. The winner is the one who will manage to climb on the back of the other after multiple water rides!

The breeding season for platypuses typically occurs between June and October. Males compete for access to females, and successful mating often takes place in the water.

The female lays one to three soft, leathery eggs, most often two, in a nesting burrow she digs herself, and curls around them to keep them warm. They hatch after about ten days, and the young emerge blind, hairless and roughly the size of a jellybean.

There are no nipples: the mother secretes milk through patches of skin on her abdomen, and the young lap it from her fur. They stay in the burrow for three to four months before entering the water.

While she is nursing, the female seals the nesting chamber behind her with plugs of soil each time she leaves – protection against predators and against flooding. Young males disperse once mature, while females often remain in their mother’s territory, so several generations of related females can share the same stretch of river.

Where to see Platypus in Australia?

There is a multitude of places where you can marvel at the strange but cute animal. Keep in mind that the Platypus is usually nocturnal. It can be seen on the surface of the water early in the morning or before sunset if the water is clear enough. On the other hand, in spots like Broken River in Queensland, they can be observed all day long!

It is important to remember not to make noise as they are very shy animals. A useful tip for finding them is to look for small air bubbles in the water and small movements on the surface of the water.

Here are the most reliable places to spot a platypus in the wild:

• Queensland — Broken River in Eungella National Park, inland from Mackay. The most dependable platypus site in Australia, with purpose-built viewing platforms. Unusually, they’re active here in daylight.
• New South Wales
  • Berrima, Southern Highlands — along the Wingecarribee River, on the Stone Quarry Walk near the village centre
  • Bombala River, in the Snowy Monaro region, which has its own dedicated platypus viewing reserve
  • Nymboida River, inland from Coffs Harbour
  • Blue Lake at Jenolan Caves — check access before travelling, the road in has been closed at times after floods and fires
• Victoria — Lake Elizabeth in the Great Otway National Park, best seen on a dawn canoe tour
• Tasmania
  • Warrawee Forest Reserve at Latrobe, which bills itself as the platypus capital of the world
  • Mountain Valley Private Nature Reserve
  • Mole Creek

Threats to the platypus

Natural predators include dingoes, snakes, foxes, goannas and, in the far north, crocodiles. Historically the platypus was hunted for its fur — a practice banned in the early twentieth century and it is now a protected species across Australia.

Its status today is Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, and the picture is worse in some states: Endangered in South Australia, Vulnerable in Victoria. On the South Australian mainland the species is effectively gone; the only population left in that state is on Kangaroo Island, where platypuses were introduced in the 1920s.

The pressures are almost entirely human:

• Habitat loss. More than 20% of platypus habitat, around 200,000 km², has disappeared in three decades through land clearing, dams and river regulation.
• Drought and climate change, which dry out the streams they depend on.
• Opera-house nets. These enclosed yabby traps drown platypuses, which need to surface to breathe. They are now banned in several states, but illegal use continues to kill animals every year.
• Litter. Rubber bands, hair ties and plastic rings catch around the body and slowly cut in as the animal grows.

Conservation efforts

Various conservation programs aim to protect platypus habitats and ensure their survival. Efforts include habitat restoration, monitoring populations, and public education campaigns. Researchers also work to understand the impacts of environmental changes on platypus populations.

Conservation & Rewilding Updates

• UNSW Sydney’s Platypus Conservation Initiative has successfully reintroduced platypuses into Hacking River in Royal National Park. Another wave of releases is planned over the next few years to reach a total of ten introduced animals.
• The Platy Patch restoration program (Victoria) is restoring riparian habitat in 14 sites, including Melbourne region, to support platypus populations. 
• Citizen‑science projects like platypusSPOT and the Australian Platypus Monitoring Network help track distributions and population trends.