Editing Platypus (section)

== Conservation ==
=== Status and threats ===
Except for its loss from the state of South Australia, the platypus occupies the same general distribution as it did prior to [[European settlement of Australia]]. However, local changes and fragmentation of distribution due to human modification of its habitat are documented. Its historical abundance is unknown and its current abundance difficult to gauge, but it is assumed to have declined in numbers, although as of 1998 was still being considered as common over most of its current range.<ref name="HCP" /> The species was extensively hunted for its fur until the early years of the 20th century. Although the species gained legal protections beginning in Victoria in 1890<ref name=1890act>{{cite web | title=Game Act 1890 | website=[[Australasian Legal Information Institute]] | url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/hist_act/ga189043/ | access-date=9 August 2023 | archive-date=9 August 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230809184631/http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/hist_act/ga189043/ |date=10 July 1890 | url-status=live }}</ref> and throughout Australia by 1912,<ref name="unsw">{{cite web |title=Platypus Conservation Initiative |url=https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/platypus-conservation-initiative/the-platypus |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519032354/https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/platypus-conservation-initiative/the-platypus |archive-date=19 May 2023 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=[[University of New South Wales]]}}</ref> until about 1950 it was still at risk of drowning in the nets of inland [[fisheries]].<ref name="CSIRO" /> The use of opera house traps for catching [[Common yabby|yabbies]] by recreational fishers is banned in the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, and restricted in NSW and Queensland, due to causing the drowning death of platypuses and other non-target species.<ref>[https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/can-enclosed-yabby-traps-harm-animals-and-are-they-legal-to-use/ Can enclosed yabby traps harm animals and are they legal to use?] RSPCA Australia, 2025. Retrieved 25 April 2025.</ref> 

The [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] recategorised its status as "near threatened" in 2016.<ref name="iucn"/> The species is protected by law, but the only state in which it is listed as endangered is South Australia, under the ''[[National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972]]''. In November 2020 a recommendation was made to list the platypus as a vulnerable species across all states<ref name="2020report">{{cite web | title=A national assessment of the conservation status of the platypus | website=[[Australian Conservation Foundation]] | url=https://www.acf.org.au/platypus_report | date=23 November 2020 | access-date=28 November 2020 | archive-date=28 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128041842/https://www.acf.org.au/platypus_report | url-status=live }}</ref> with a vulnerable listing being made official in Victoria under the state's ''[[Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988]]'' on 10 January 2021.<ref name="riskassessment">{{cite web |title=Platypus Risk Assessment |url=https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/595040/Platypus-Risk-Assessment-Report.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327161147/https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/595040/Platypus-Risk-Assessment-Report.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2023 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=[[Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action]]}}</ref>

==== Habitat destruction ====
The platypus is not considered to be in immediate danger of extinction, because conservation measures have been successful, but it could be adversely affected by habitat disruption caused by [[dam]]s, [[irrigation]], [[pollution]], netting, and trapping.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Stannard | first1=H.J. | last2=Wolfenden | first2=J. | last3=Old | first3=J.M. | year=2010 | title=Evaluating the capacity of constructed wetlands to sustain a captive population of Platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus'') | journal=Australasian Journal of Environmental Management | volume=17 | issue=1 | pages=27–34 | doi=10.1080/14486563.2010.9725246 | bibcode=2010AuJEM..17...27S }}</ref> Reduction of watercourse flows and water levels through excessive droughts and extraction of water for industrial, agricultural, and domestic supplies are also considered a threat. The [[IUCN]] lists the platypus on its [[Red List]] as "[[Near Threatened]]"<ref name="iucn" /> as assessed in 2016, when it was estimated that numbers had reduced by about 30 percent on average since European settlement. The animal is listed as endangered in South Australia, but it is not covered at all under the federal ''[[EPBC Act]]''.<ref name=natgeog>{{cite web | title=The silent decline of the platypus, Australia's beloved oddity | website=National Geographic | first=Christie | last=Wilcox | date=29 August 2019 | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/08/common-platypus-disappearing-australia/ | access-date=12 October 2020 | archive-date=12 October 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012141601/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/08/common-platypus-disappearing-australia/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=EPBC Act List of Threatened Fauna | website=Species Profile and Threats Database | publisher=Australian Government. [[Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment]] | url=https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl | access-date=12 October 2020 | archive-date=5 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105231657/http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl | url-status=live }}</ref>

Researchers have worried for years that declines have been greater than assumed.<ref name=natgeog/> In January 2020, researchers from the [[University of New South Wales]] presented evidence that the platypus is at risk of [[extinction]], due to a combination of extraction of [[water resource]]s, [[land clearing]], [[climate change]] and severe [[drought]].<ref name="EA-20200121">{{cite web |author=University of New South Wales |title=Platypus on brink of extinction |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/uons-pob011920.php |date=21 January 2020 |work=[[EurekAlert!]] |access-date=22 January 2020 |author-link=University of New South Wales |archive-date=13 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513103618/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/uons-pob011920.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=brink2020>{{cite press release |title=Platypus on brink of extinction |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200121112922.htm |work=ScienceDaily |publisher=University of New South Wales |date=21 January 2020 }}</ref> The study predicted that, considering current threats, the animals' abundance would decline by 47–66% and [[metapopulation]] occupancy by 22–32% over 50 years, causing "extinction of local populations across about 40% of the range". Under projections of climate change projections to 2070, reduced habitat due to drought would lead to 51–73% reduced abundance and 36–56% reduced metapopulation occupancy within 50 years respectively. These predictions suggested that the species would fall under the "Vulnerable" classification. The authors stressed the need for national conservation efforts, which might include conducting more surveys, tracking trends, reduction of threats and improvement of river management to ensure healthy platypus habitat.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bino |first1=Gilad |last2=Kingsford |first2=Richard T. |last3=Wintle |first3=Brendan A. |title=A stitch in time – Synergistic impacts to platypus metapopulation extinction risk |journal=Biological Conservation |date=February 2020 |volume=242 |pages=108399 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108399 |bibcode=2020BCons.24208399B }}</ref> Co-author Gilad Bino is concerned that the estimates of the 2016 baseline numbers could be wrong, and numbers may have been reduced by as much as half already.<ref name=natgeog/>

A November 2020 report by scientists from the [[University of New South Wales]], funded by a research grant from the [[Australian Conservation Foundation]] in collaboration with the [[World Wildlife Fund|World Wildlife Fund Australia]] and the [[Humane Society International Australia]] revealed that that platypus habitat in Australia had shrunk by 22 per cent in the previous 30 years, and recommended that the platypus should be listed as a threatened species under the ''EPBC Act''.<ref name=2020report/><ref>{{cite web | last=Cox | first=Lisa | title=Australia's platypus habitat has shrunk 22% in 30 years, report says | website=the Guardian | date=23 November 2020 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/23/australias-platypus-habitat-has-shrunk-22-in-30-years-report-says | access-date=28 November 2020 | archive-date=28 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128065816/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/23/australias-platypus-habitat-has-shrunk-22-in-30-years-report-says | url-status=live }}</ref> Declines in population had been greatest in NSW, in particular in the [[Murray–Darling basin]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Platypus should be listed as a threatened species: new report | website=UNSW Newsroom | publisher=[[University of New South Wales]] | date=23 November 2020 | url=https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/platypus-should-be-listed-threatened-species-new-report | access-date=28 November 2020 | archive-date=26 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126093055/https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/platypus-should-be-listed-threatened-species-new-report | url-status=live | author1=z3525972 }}</ref><ref name=2020report/>

==== Disease ====
Platypuses generally suffer from few [[disease]]s in the wild; however, as of 2008 there was concern in Tasmania about the potential impacts of a disease caused by the fungus ''[[Mucor amphibiorum]]''. The disease (termed [[mucormycosis]]) affects only Tasmanian platypuses, and had not been observed in platypuses in mainland Australia. Affected platypuses can develop skin lesions or [[ulcer]]s on various parts of their bodies, including their backs, tails, and legs. Mucormycosis can kill platypuses, death arising from secondary infection and by affecting the animals' ability to maintain body temperature and forage efficiently. The Biodiversity Conservation Branch at the Department of Primary Industries and Water collaborated with NRM north and [[University of Tasmania]] researchers to determine the impacts of the disease on Tasmanian platypuses, as well as the mechanism of transmission and spread of the disease.<ref name="DPIW2">{{cite web|url=http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SSKA-7AH66E?open |title=Platypus Fungal Disease |publisher=Department of Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania |date=29 August 2008 |access-date=29 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307100350/http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SSKA-7AH66E?open |archive-date= 7 March 2008 }}</ref>

=== Wildlife sanctuaries ===
Much of the world was introduced to the platypus in 1939 when ''[[National Geographic Magazine]]'' published an article on the platypus and the efforts to study and raise it in captivity. The latter is a difficult task, and only a few young have been successfully raised since, notably at [[Healesville Sanctuary]] in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. The leading figure in these efforts was [[David Fleay]], who established a platypusary (a simulated stream in a tank) at the Healesville Sanctuary, where breeding was successful in 1943.<ref name="Zoos Voctoria">{{cite web| url = http://www.zoo.org.au/news/fantastic-fleay-turns-20| title = Fantastic Fleay turns 20!| access-date = 4 February 2014| date = 31 October 2013| work = Zoos Victoria| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181109084854/https://www.zoo.org.au/news/fantastic-fleay-turns-20| archive-date = 9 November 2018| url-status = dead}}</ref> In 1972, he found a dead baby of about 50 days old, which had presumably been born in captivity, at his [[David Fleay Wildlife Park|wildlife park]] at [[Burleigh Heads, Queensland|Burleigh Heads]] on the [[Gold Coast, Queensland|Gold Coast]], Queensland.<ref name="DF">{{cite web|url=http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_conservation/wildlife/david_fleay_wildlife_park/50_years_wild/david_fleays_achievements/|title= David Fleay's achievements|publisher=Queensland Government|date=23 November 2003| access-date = 13 September 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061002043523/http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_conservation/wildlife/david_fleay_wildlife_park/50_years_wild/david_fleays_achievements/ |archive-date = 2 October 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> Healesville repeated its success in 1998 and again in 2000 with a similar stream tank.<ref name="catalyst"/> Since 2008, platypus has bred regularly at Healesville,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.zoo.org.au/news/pitter-patter---platypus-twins| title=Pitter patter – Platypus twins!| publisher=Zoo Victoria| date=4 March 2013| access-date=17 August 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828052202/https://www.zoo.org.au/news/pitter-patter---platypus-twins| archive-date=28 August 2018| url-status=dead}}</ref> including second-generation (captive born themselves breeding in captivity).<ref name=PlatConservZoo>{{cite web | url=https://platypus.asn.au/conservation/zoos/ | title=Zoos | publisher=Australian Platypus Conservancy | access-date=17 August 2017 | date=22 November 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304055829/https://platypus.asn.au/conservation/zoos/ | archive-date=4 March 2019 | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Taronga Zoo]] in [[Sydney]] bred twins in 2003, and breeding was again successful there in 2006.<ref name="catalyst">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s988946.htm|title=Platypus|publisher=Catalyst|date=13 November 2003|access-date=13 September 2006|archive-date=23 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723232610/http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s988946.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Captivity ===
As of 2019, the only platypuses in captivity outside of Australia are in the [[San Diego Zoo Safari Park]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[California]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/nov/22/platypus-display-san-diego/|title=Rare Platypus On Display At San Diego Zoo Safari Park|last=Anderson|first=Erik|date=22 November 2019|website=KPBS Public Media|language=en|access-date=29 December 2019|quote=The animals are the only platypuses on display outside of their native country.|archive-date=13 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513103631/https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/nov/22/platypus-display-san-diego/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/platypus|title=Platypus {{!}} San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants|website=animals.sandiegozoo.org|access-date=29 December 2019|archive-date=25 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725024623/https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/platypus|url-status=live}}</ref> Three attempts were made to bring the animals to the [[Bronx Zoo]], in 1922, 1947, and 1958. Of these, only two of the three animals introduced in 1947, [[Penelope (platypus)|Penelope]] and Cecil,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=19 August 1957 |title=Animals: End of the Affair |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C809719%2C00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616062446/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,809719,00.html |archive-date=16 June 2007 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> lived longer than eighteen months.<ref>{{cite book | author = Lee S. Crandall | title = The Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity | publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = 1964}}</ref>