Platypus eating a normal insect diet could ingest at least 69 drugs, research reveals

Insects near waste water could give a platypus or trout half a human dose of antidepressants

Lisa Cox

Tue 6 Nov 2018 17.00 GMT Last modified on Tue 6 Nov 2018 17.01 GMT

A platypus living in a creek or stream with waste water could be exposed to 50% of a human daily dose of antidepressants just by eating its normal diet of insects, according to new research.

A team of scientists, led by researchers at Monash University, has analysed insects and riparian spiders found in six Melbourne streams for traces of 98 different types of pharmaceuticals.

The research, published in Nature Communications on Wednesday, detected 69 different types of pharmaceuticals in insects and 66 types in spiders. It suggests the pharmaceuticals were transferred to spiders after they consumed insects.

The scientists then estimated what the potential exposure could be for the main species that feed on invertebrates in those streams: platypus and brown trout.

“There’s many studies that exist that tell us that pharmaceuticals are in the water,” said the study’s lead author, Erinn Richmond. “What we didn’t know is are these pharmaceuticals moving through aquatic food webs?

“One think I think is alarming about this study is the sheer number and types of drugs detected in these insects.

“We found 69 different pharmaceuticals.”

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Meet The World’s Oldest Wild Platypus

March 3, 2016

Ecologists surveying the platypus population in Melbourne’s waterways identify a 21-year-old male first tagged in the 1990s.

By Vicki Croke

He was out of the water and in the hands of biologists for just 15 minutes, but it was long enough for him to be weighed, microchipped…and for him to keep his record. While most wild platypuses are expected to live no more than 12 years, this guy, called the “grandpa platypus” by an Australian newspaper, and who was first tagged in the mid-1990’s, has reached the grand old age of 21—making him the oldest known wild platypus on record.

Josh Griffiths, senior wildlife ecologist at the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research (Cesar), working with a team of students from Monash University, found the super-survivor while on a platypus survey, which he conducts twice a year in Melbourne, Australia.

It could be good genes or good luck or some kind of natural wisdom that have allowed this platypus to survive to an age that is considered to be about twice as long as most of his peers. Griffiths isn’t sure. But he told the Daily Mail that this secretive mammal is “a strong healthy male.” And that part of the explanation might have something to do with a long drought that ended about five years ago in the area. That dry spell reduced the platypus’s population and may have killed off rivals. Platypus numbers have been rebounding since.

Video and continued ...

New design crayfish traps will save platypus from drowning

The Australian Platypus Conservancy (APC) has been carrying out trials on a new design of a type of crayfish trap called an opera house trap. Opera house traps are widely sold in Australia to deploy in rivers to catch crayfish for eating. Unfortunately, these same rivers are populated by air-breathing platypus that cannot escape from the traps once they have entered them and so drown. The new design is fitted with a circular escape hatch in the roof, through which platypus can find their way back out. The research, funded by the Taronga Conservation Society, involved 34 adults and 24 juvenile platypus to establish how easily the animals found the escape holes. 

Of the four animals tested during daylight hours, all escaped within one minute of being introduced to a trap. At night, 63 per cent of tested animals managed to find their own way out within one minute and 19 per cent in 1-2 minutes. All exited via the escape hatch in the roof. Given that a platypus can hold its breath for approximately two and a half minutes when active, these findings suggest that a large proportion of wild platypus are likely to escape from a modified trap before they drown.

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Platypus loves having its belly tickled – video

The latest version shows a platypus splashing around in the water and enjoying a good tickle at Healesville Sanctuary, in Australia.

A YouTube video of the tickling session has become extremely popular, with the infectious happiness of the platypus proving irresistible to viewers.

The mammal is seen flicking its feet in pure joy as it lies in the water having its mid-section stroked.

It then continues to play with the visitor, swimming back and forth and being hand-fed.

A member of Cute Creatures Great And Small, who posted the one-minute clip, said: ‘This beautiful platypus loved playing in the water and loved a tickle!

‘She was so friendly and ate food right out of my hand!’

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/20/platypus-loves-having-its-belly-tickled-video-4153239/

Australia platypus survives 15km ride stuck in car engine

A platypus that got stuck in a car engine in Australia has been safely released back into the wild, Australian conservation officials say.

The female platypus wedged itself inside the engine bay of a car driving through a flooded river crossing south of Canberra late on Wednesday.

It was driven more than 15km (9 miles) before the driver realised an animal was in the car.

Officials described the incident as a "one-in-a-million" event.

The driver, Cameron Blaseotto, said he heard scratching from under his car bonnet when he parked his car.

He and his friend "originally thought a possum or something was going to jump out at both of us", he told Australian broadcaster ABC.

"We had a bit of an argument about who was going to open the engine bay," he added.

They were surprised to discover a platypus stuck in the engine bay, and called the territory's Parks and Conservation Service.

"Our urban wildlife rangers get calls ranging from snakes in houses to quolls (a carnivorous marsupial) in trees, but this was definitely one of our most unusual calls," Regional Operations Manager Brett McNamara said.

"There's obviously many moving parts within an engine bay and given platypus have claws there is not much to hang onto," he said.

"How this animal was able to climb up inside, hang on, and then drive all the way back into Canberra is a truly remarkable story."

Mr McNamara added that the platypus, who was in perfect health, was returned to her home and released on Thursday morning.

Platypuses - egg-laying mammals with a duck-like bill - are native to Australia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24459626

Insights Into Australia's Unique Platypus

Posted on: Monday, 2 November 2009, 10:27 CST

New insights into the biology of the platypus and echidna have been published, providing a collection of unique research data about the world's only monotremes.

University of Adelaide geneticist Dr Frank Grützner and his team have authored five of 28 papers which appear in two special issues of the Australian Journal of Zoology and Reproduction Fertility and Development.

The articles shed new light on the extraordinary complex platypus sex chromosome system.

"For the first time we have looked at how the 10 sex chromosomes find each other during sperm development in platypus," Dr Grützner says.

"We discovered that a remarkably organized mechanism must exist in platypus, where sex chromosomes from one end pair first and then they go down the sex chromosome chain, just like a zipper. There is nothing random about it."

Dr Grützner and his colleagues also isolated and analyzed for the first time the sequence of the male-specific Y chromosomes.

"Previously we knew nothing about the Y chromosomes because only the female platypus genome was sequenced. The data we found has given us valuable clues about the evolution of Y chromosomes in all mammals, including humans," Dr Grützner says.

All 28 published articles in the CSIRO journals have arisen from the Boden Research Conference, "Beyond the Platypus Genome", hosted by the University of Adelaide in November 2008, which attracted researchers from around the world.

The published papers represent a wide range of monotreme research, from genome to field biology, population genetics and captive breeding, evolution to immunology, venom, sperm and milk in both the platypus and echidna.

"I expect these results to make a major impact in the field of monotreme research and mammal evolution," Dr Grützner says.

"We have entered a new era in monotreme research, where we are seeing a more integrated approach using genomics, biochemistry and field biology to tackle important questions in monotreme biology. This knowledge will also help us conserve these iconic Australian mammals," he says.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1778701/insights_into_australias_unique_platypus/index.html