Platypus longevity: a new record in the wild and information on captive life span

Melody Serena; Gemma Snowball; Jessica L. Thomas; Geoff A. Williams; Al Danger

doi:10.1071/AM23048

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Platypus longevity: a new record in the wild and information on captive life span

Melody Serena ^A ^* , Gemma Snowball ^B , Jessica L. Thomas ^C , Geoff A. Williams ^A and Al Danger ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Australian Platypus Conservancy, PO Box 115, Campbells Creek, Vic. 3451, Australia.

^B Ecology Australia, 2/1 Latitude Boulevard, Thomastown, Vic. 3074, Australia.

^C Healesville Sanctuary, Healesville, Vic. 3777, Australia.

^D Melbourne Water, PO Box 4342, Melbourne, Vic. 3001, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: platypus.apc@westnet.com.au

Handling Editor: Ross Goldingay

Australian Mammalogy 46, AM23048 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM23048

Submitted: 10 November 2023 Accepted: 26 January 2024 Published: 13 February 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

We report on a male platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) who was tagged in November 2000 at the age of 1 year and recaptured in September 2023, when nearly 24 years old, in a small creek system in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs. By comparison, a female platypus recently reached the age of 30 years in captivity, though with signs of ageing that may have precluded her survival if she were living in the wild. Ten other captive individuals have lived to an age of more than 20 years in recent decades.

Keywords: Dandenong Creek catchment, Healesville Sanctuary, male reproductive costs, Monbulk Creek, monotreme, Ornithorhynchidae, platypus life history, platypus survival in zoos, senescence.

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