Gilad Bino, a researcher at the UNSW Centre for Ecosystem Science, said in a press release. "There is an urgent need for a national risk assessment for the platypus to assess its conservation status, evaluate risks and impacts, and prioritise management in order to minimise any risk of extinction," Dr. The researchers said this analysis should provide a sense of urgency for conservation efforts. When factoring in the current rates of climate change, the researchers estimate that the platypus population is likely to decrease by 47 percent over the next 50 years. These are the only two countries where the animals exist in the wild. The new analysis of platypus populations found that there is compelling evidence that platypus populations are declining in Australia and Tasmania. But if current climate crisis predictions are correct, the platypus' habitat and ecosystem could be destroyed, which would lead this unique animal to extinction.Īccording to the study by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), platypuses face "potentially devastating combination of threats, including water-resource development, land clearing, climate change, and increasingly severe periods of drought." As a carnivorous animal, the platypus can spend up to twelve hours a day, at night, hunting shrimp, crayfish, insect larvae and worms. The platypus is a river-dwelling mammal that lays eggs. As the tragic bushfires in Australia blanketed the island continent, the platypuses were " invisible victims," as Atlas Obscura wrote. That's according to a new study published in the February issue of Biological Conservation, which suggests the humble beaked mammal is at greater risk of becoming extinct than previously thought. The platypus, a beloved emblem of Australia and a symbol of the strangeness of evolution, is at risk of extinction.
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