Platypus
Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Australia's Threatened Species Category
Not Listed
Listed since: 0/01/1900
IUCN's Threatened Species Category
Near Threatened
Listed since: 22/04/2014
Population trend: Decreasing
Other names: None
Priority Species? No
The Australian government's Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032 selected over 100 priority species derive from consultation with threatened species experts and the wider community. While all species are important, focusing on a limited number of species can help target effort and resources so that outcomes can be achieved, measured and shared.
Description
The Platypus is a unique Australian species. Along with echidnas, Platypuses are grouped in a separate order of mammals known as monotremes, which are distinguished from all other mammals because they lay eggs. Platypuses occur in freshwater systems from tropical rainforest lowlands and plateaus of far northern Queensland to cold, high altitudes of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. The Platypus feeds mainly during the night on a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates.
Threats
There is a general lack of knowledge in the species abundance at local catchment levels to predict population trends. The dependence of Platypuses on the established freshwater systems may lead to their decline in future.