A Melbourne Water waterway-monitoring program has led to the discovery of a 24-year-old male platypus, the oldest ever recorded in the wild.
The platypus was estimated to be one year old when he was first captured and tagged as a sub-adult in November 2000.
Al Danger, Senior Asset Manager for Service Enablement Catchments & Waterways at Melbourne Water, who runs the MWUPP, acknowledges the excitement of this discovery.
“It’s been very exciting to discover our record-breaking platypus; his age has far exceeded our expectations for life expectancy. His condition was excellent for his age. There was no noticeable indication he was so old, just some wear and tear on his spurs,” he said.
The Urban Platypus Program (MWUPP), in association with Ecology Australia and Cesar Australia, performs sampling to gather population health data of these cryptic monotremes.
He was recaptured in April 2023 when the discovery was made, then again in September.
It will have lived in Monbulk Creek his entire life.
“He’s survived living in an urban environment, frequent flood events, avoided predators like cats, dogs and foxes, dodged litter entanglement and survived the millennium drought during the 2000s,” he said.
Scanning the tag, this platypus is three years older than the previously oldest known, a female in the upper Shoalhaven River in New South Wales at 21 years old.
Platypus are listed as ‘vulnerable’ in Victoria. Melbourne Water conducts surveys using specialised nets to help catch the platypus and track their health over time.
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