<
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/platypuses-return-to-australias-oldest-national-park-180982179/>
"Platypuses are back at Australia’s oldest national park after disappearing
from it roughly 50 years ago. On Friday, wildlife officials released four
females inside Royal National Park, located south of Sydney in the state of New
South Wales, with plans to introduce two additional females and four males in
the near future, according to a statement from the University of New South
Wales.
The duck-billed, egg-laying mammals haven’t been recorded within the park’s
bounds since the 1970s. Experts suspect a nearby chemical spill during that
decade wiped out platypuses within the park, however, the elusive creatures may
have already been struggling, reports the Isobel Roe for the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation.
But after years of careful planning, wildlife experts hope the creatures will
re-establish a foothold in the park’s waterways, including the Hacking River,
where they were released. Conservationists have been preparing the local
ecosystem for the platypuses’ return by reducing the number of predators in the
area, such as cats and foxes. They’ve also been studying the park’s water
quality and food availability, per the ABC."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-trachoma-benin-mali-deforestation-brazil-seine-paris/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
