Platypuses’ future in Oz threatened

Sydney – Australia’s unique platypus population is shrinking under pressure from agriculture and pollution, putting the egg-laying mammals’ future in doubt, researchers said in a report published yesterday.

A survey of the duckbilled animal suggested its numbers had fallen by 30%, to about 200 000 since Europeans settled on the continent two centuries ago.

“We have great concerns about the future survival of this unique species,” said Richard Kingsford, director of the University of New South Wales Centre for Ecosystem Science.

Threats endangering the platypus in its eastern Australian habitats include increased land-clearing for agriculture, pollution, dam building and fishing nets, Kingsford said.

Kingsford called on authorities to elevate the protected status of the platypus from near-threatened to vulnerable.

He said that while population numbers varied in different regions of eastern Australia, platypuses had already disappeared from some areas. –