Juvenile platypus | March 22, 2024 | Illawarra Mercury - video Dailymotion

Illawarra Mercury

Juvenile platypus found in Royal National Park. Video from Taronga Zoo.

Transcript

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02:43 >> So it's been about ten months now since we released platypuses into

02:46 the Royal National Park.

02:47 We came out here to do some surveys.

02:50 The first objective was to see if the individuals that we released were

02:54 doing well, if they were healthy, how their body condition was.

02:58 Very excitingly, we have come out tonight and we've captured a juvenile

03:01 female platypus.

03:03 So yeah, over the moon about that.

03:05 It means the conditions here are really good for platypus breeding.

03:08 And just after one year of having the animals in the park, I'm ecstatic.

03:13 I'm just really happy to have had that outcome.

03:16 So yeah, amazing.

03:18 >> Congrats, guys.

03:20 >> Gila, do you wanna see if you can do some of the veg with that?

03:25 >> Darling.

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03:29 >> So first thing I'm taking here is a swab.

03:32 So from the cloaca, so platypuses, they have a cloaca.

03:36 So one hole for like urine, feces, and reproduction.

03:40 And so we'll take a swab there.

03:42 So we're looking at the microbiome in the stomach of platypuses.

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03:50 >> So it might be a bit hard for everyone to see.

03:51 When you come closer, you'll be able to have a look.

03:54 But the females are born with this tiny, residual spur.

03:57 So it's this tiny, tiny little, almost like a match head size spur here,

04:02 which you'll lose between six and nine months of age.

04:05 And after that point, we won't be able to tell how old this female is.

04:10 But because she's emerged this year, which means, as I said,

04:14 she probably came out of the nest about a month ago for this area.

04:18 Hopefully some of our work, we might be able to better refine that.

04:21 But yeah, so amazing.

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04:26 >> Platypuses, they have a tick species which is unique to them,

04:30 only found on platypuses.

04:32 Generally, they'll get like a tick burden on these hind legs,

04:37 sometimes on the rump and into the tail, and occasionally like in this area.

04:42 But she's only got one single tiny tick.

Juvenile platypus | March 22, 2024 | Illawarra Mercury

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