Is the platypus decreasing or increasing in number?

Answer 1

Such a graph is not available. It is estimated that platypus numbers are similar today to what they were at the beginning of European settlement. They did decline significantly in the early part of the twentieth century due to being hunted, but laws ensuring their protection have seen the platypus population recover.

Answer 2

The population of platypuses is not declining. Although they are sensitive creatures, finely tuned to certain environmental conditions, the platypus population today is estimated to be about the same as it was when Europeans first settled in Australia. Although the platypus was on the verge of extinction during the early part of the 20th century, Federal protection laws have ensured this animal's survival.

Having said that, however, there are numerous threats to the platypus, even those these are not causing a decrease in the population. For more information on threats to the platypus, see the related question below.

Answer 3

There is not a lot of information on platypus numbers, but they are believed to be steady, and neither decaying nor increasing.

Not many surveys of platypus populations have been done, and even those have only been carried out in selected rivers on Australia's eastern coast. Apart from in South Australia where platypuses can no longer be found in the wild, the platypus population is believed to be the same as it was at the beginning of European settlement in Australia.

Answer 4

The population of the platypus is not decreasing. Although platypuses are sensitive creatures, the platypus population today is estimated to be about the same as it was when Europeans first settled in Australia.

There are, howeever, a few threats to the platypus's population.

The introduction of red foxes as a predator for rabbits may have had some impact on platypus numbers on the mainland. Feral cats are another platypus predator, but the platypus's principal enemies are humans. Humans used to hunt them for their fur, but they are now protected. The danger is now not from hunting, but from destruction of their environment. Also, the use of fishing nets in freshwater creeks and rivers resulted in large numbers being drowned, but this practice has been banned.

Natural predators of the platypus include snakes, water rats, goannas, spotted quolls, eels, hawks, owls and eagles. In the north of its range, dingoes are another predator. Lower platypus numbers in far northern Australia are possibly due to predation by crocodiles. On occasion, large eels have been thought to take platypuses, which may be only half the length of a freshwater eel.

Another factor which affects platypus populations is flooding. Young platypuses may be washed out of their burrows when floodwaters come, and few of these survive.

Tasmanian platypuses are subject to platypus fungal disease, or Mucormycosis. This fungal disease causes ugly skin lesions or ulcers to develop on various parts of the platypus's body, including their backs, tails and legs. These lesions become quite large, and are ultimately fatal. Death comes from secondary infection, and from the fact that the platypus's ability to maintain body temperature and forage efficiently for food is affected. It's not yet known how the disease spreads from platypus to platypus, but the mainland creatures are not affected.