<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/18/platypus-wild-sydney-royal-national-park>
"Hunting platypuses takes patience. On Thursday afternoon, I headed into the
Royal national park, south of Sydney, with researchers who had reintroduced a
small population of the elusive monotremes two years ago.
There was a big net and torches – and our dinner. It could be a long wait.
The platypus was thought to be locally extinct by the 1970s, after a chemical
spill on a nearby highway washed through streams and the Hacking River,
devastating the delicate ecosystem that platypuses need to thrive.
But then, in 2023, Dr Gilad Bino, an ecologist and freshwater biologist at the
University of New South Wales, and his colleague, Dr Tahneal Hawke, introduced
10 platypuses into the national park in the hope of reestablishing a thriving
population.
The project paid quick dividends. A newborn platypus was discovered in early
2024 and christened Gilli – a Dharawal word for “flame”. Three more adults were
introduced in May.
This week, the researchers were hoping to find evidence that Gilli wasn’t a
fluke.
I’ve lived in Australia for 10 years after moving from the US. And like many
people, I had never seen a platypus in the wild. So I jumped at the chance to
join Bino and Hawke this week when they ventured into the forest in search of
their “platys”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
