00:00The detection dog program is something that we run on site here for a range of different
00:07species and I survey the local creek that runs through Hillsville Sanctuary every year
00:13and one day I was just talking to some of the detection dog officers about the challenges
00:18in surveying for them as a species because they're very hard to not only see in the wild
00:23but also to capture as well and the dogs their sense of smell is so cute that they're actually
00:31able to detect a platypus while it's asleep in its burrow and it's actually a more accurate
00:38method of determining how many animals are in the population than going out and trying
00:43to survey for them.
00:44I feel like you need to see the pictures which we're playing right now to be able to understand
00:48what they're doing and what the dogs are doing and how they're using these paddle boards.
00:52What happens when they do detect the platypus habitat?
00:56So the dogs are trained to give an alert once they do pick up the scent of the platypus they'll
01:03refine it to the location and they're actually able to detect the entrance of the burrow which
01:08is something I even struggle to find because they're usually very well concealed.
01:14The alert usually looks like a sit but sometimes that's challenging in the water so they might
01:19freeze and also then look at their handler indicating that they've located the animal and that's
01:25when they get some tasty treats as a reward and usually something else that they really
01:31like so one of them likes to play ball afterwards and that's his special treat for locating the
01:35platypus and the other one usually gets like a lick mat with some peanut butter on it.
01:40So what do you do with the information?
01:43So we record the GPS location of where the animal's been located and we can then work out how many
01:51animals are within a population. We can also use this method to survey an area where people might be
01:58doing some construction just to check if there's a platypus before we start digging into the bank as well.
02:04Now alongside of all of this, there's a new sanctuary at the Healesville Sanctuary
02:10specifically built for platypuses. Tell us what you're hoping to do with this sanctuary.
02:17This is a rescue and rehabilitation facility and it's designed to house wild platypuses that can't live in their habitat
02:27because it's been disturbed by something like bushfire or drought and will hold them temporarily
02:33until their habitat recovers and then release them back to the wild.
02:36It can also be used as a pre-release enclosure for animals that have come in with severe injuries
02:43and they need to build their fitness up before we can release them back to the wild.
02:47So it's been designed to replicate a complex stream environment.
02:53If you think of your local creek or river, it's actually got a lot of complexity to it.
02:58There's lots of different levels of water ranging from very shallow to very deep
03:03and the water flow changes very regularly. It can either be very gentle and shallow
03:09and after rain the water level will rise quite rapidly and you'll get a really fast flow.
03:15The animals need to be able to deal with these conditions when they go back to the wild.
03:18And this I suppose will allow you to study the animals which are notoriously difficult to see in the wild.
03:23Yeah, that's right. So we've also got infrared cameras set up throughout the whole facility
03:28so we can monitor all of their behaviour and their activity patterns while they're living there.
03:33And this is the only way we've been państwo persons who've prohibited things.
03:37And this is the way they're really connected to the animals that link together.
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