San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is partnering with an Australian zoo to study how climate change is affecting platypuses as a way to save the egg-laying mammal.
The species is declining because of habitat loss, in part because of the 2019 Australian bush fires, which destroyed much of the platypuses' habitat and reduced their numbers.
“They're an important component for the health of the ecosystems, the river sheds that they inhabit. So they are an important animal to just maintaining the health and functions of their natural ecosystem," said Hendrik Nollens, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance vice president of Wildlife Health. "They’re a very charismatic animal so they make a great ambassador species.”
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is partnering with Taronga Western Plains Zoo and the University of New South Wales to study breeding behavior and platypuses' biology to better understand how they are coping with the effects of climate change.
The Platypus Research Program is the first of its kind in the world.
“So one of the objectives of this study is to actually understand that under which conditions do platypus no longer thrive, no longer reproduce," he said. "Because those would be triggers to actually go, rescue them, retrieve them from a system under threat, but then also inform when they can go back.”
Much about the platypuses' behaviors is unknown, including how many are left in the wild because they are elusive creatures that prefer to burrow in murky waters.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is the only zoo outside of Australia to have platypuses on display, giving researchers here a chance to monitor their burrowing behaviors.
According to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, only 23 puggles (baby platypuses) have been born at zoos since 1943, so the physiological, behavioral and environmental factors that lead to success or failure are unknown.
As part of the program, researchers will also develop a genome resource bank and genetic database to understand and protect wild platypus populations.
