Australia’s weirdest and most wonderful semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal’s breeding season is back, and Waterwatch is calling on Canberrans to once again come and spot some platypuses.
Waterwatch is diving in this August for their ninth annual Platypus Month, as our local platypus population prepares for parenthood on local riverbanks.
Canberrans are encouraged to pack their binoculars and help volunteers monitor platypus at dusk and dawn across eight different locations in the ACT region.
ACT Minister for Water Shane Rattenbury said there’s over 300 one-hour survey spots to fill, so now is the perfect time to join the citizen-scientists and ecologists to collect data to improve our understanding of the iconic Australian monotreme.
“Late winter is the ideal time for spotting these much-loved mammals as they spend more time feeding and the males are out preparing for the breeding season,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“Despite the impacts from COVID-19 over the past few years, we have seen the community’s support and enthusiasm for this special month, so I encourage Canberrans to sign up to take part in these important surveys.
“This year, the University of Canberra will be conducting some more traditional population surveys on platypus at three of our monitoring sites. These additional surveys will offer a useful comparison point to our regular surveys and help us better interpret our results over time.”
Regional facilitator at Waterwatch, Woo O’Reilly, said the team were disappointed the 2021 COVID-19 lockdown cut Platypus Month short last year, so they’re looking forward to welcoming everyone back.
“These surveys give us really important data and I am so grateful for the help we receive from such a dedicated and supportive community,” Ms O’Reilly said.
“We are really looking forward to welcoming everyone back so that we can see how the platypus in our region have fared over the past two years.”
Find volunteer sessions at www.act.waterwatch.org.au and if you spot a platypus when you’re out and about, you can also record the sighting through Waterwatch’s ‘Platy and Ratty’ Portal.
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