Thursday, September 21, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News Features

Australia’s ‘irreplaceable’ platypus threatened by dams — study

AFPbyAFP
November 5, 2022, 8:20 pm
in Features, News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

The future of the platypus, a unique duck-billed, egg-laying mammal only found in Australia, is under threat because they cannot climb over tall river dams, according to a new study.

The platypus is an oddity in many ways. As well as its duck-like bill and egg-laying, it is a rare venomous mammal, brandishing centimeter-long poisonous spurs on its hind legs.

They are also one of the only mammals who can locate prey by detecting electric fields and whose fur glows blue-green under an ultraviolet light. Platypuses even have 10 sex chromosomes – most mammals have two.

THREATENED. This handout picture released by Nature magazine on November 4, 2022 shows a platypus (ornithorynque) endemic to Australia and Tasmania, which is one of the few mammals to lay eggs and is currently considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a “near threatened” species. According to recent estimates, their population has fallen by 50% since the European colonization of Australia just over two centuries ago. AFP

But the number of platypuses has fallen by 50 percent since Europeans settled Australia more than two centuries ago, according to previous research.

Its habitat has increasingly come under threat from climate change-fueled extreme weather events including drought and fire. They are also preyed upon by invasive species such as foxes, cats and dogs.

A new study published in the journal Communications Biology this week identified a new threat: platypuses are not able to climb over large, human-made dams in rivers.

The study’s lead author, Jose Luis Mijangos of the University of New South Wales, told AFP that “there might be as few as 30,000 mature platypuses” left in Australia.

More than three quarters of Australia’s dams measuring over 10 meters (33 feet) are in regions where platypuses live, the study said.

Some platypuses, which mostly live in rivers and streams but can use their webbed feet to walk on land, have been reported to be able to cross smaller dams.

But they cannot get over taller dams, isolating the animals from each other, the study found.

The researchers took the DNA samples of 274 platypuses from nine rivers in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. Five of the rivers have dams between 85 to 180 meters tall, while the others flow unimpeded.

Comparing the samples, they found that genetic differences were four to 20 times higher in platypus populations around the dammed rivers compared to those not living near dams, indicating the first group rarely mixed with others.

They also estimated that the genetic differences had increased in every platypus generation since the nearby dams had been completed.

“These results suggest that almost no or no platypuses have passed around the dams since they were built,” Mijangos said.

As a result, “populations are fragmented, which means that the ability to recolonize available habitat or migrate to areas with more suitable conditions is restricted,” he added.

“Fragmentation also simultaneously reduces both local population size and gene flow, each of which is expected to lead to increased inbreeding and reduction of the genetic variation.”

To address the problem, the researchers propose structures be built to help the platypuses scale the dams. They also suggested that humans could relocate some platypuses to promote diversity.

After all, the platypus is too weird to be lost.

“Platypuses are arguably the most irreplaceable mammal because they have a unique combination of features,” Mijangos said.

Tags: Australiaplatypusriver dams
ADVERTISEMENT
AFP

AFP

Related Posts

‘Kids recruited into private army’

byMacon Ramos-Araneta
September 21, 2023, 11:30 pm
0
8
Kin of drug war victims ask ICC to resume probe

Kids as young as 12 years old and at least seven women were allegedly recruited into the private army of...

Read more

PCSO to launch first e-lottery in PH in November

byRio N. Araja
September 21, 2023, 11:20 pm
0
8
Lucky bettor wins  P162M lotto jackpot

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will launch its first-ever online or electronic lottery in November as it downplayed fears that...

Read more

Military chief seeks ‘meaningful conversations’ to end conflicts

byVince Lopez
September 21, 2023, 11:10 pm
0
8
Mendoza tapped to lead LTO; COA flags permit tack

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on Thursday called for “meaningful conversations” to end...

Read more

PH, Bangladesh eye expansion of defense relations

byManila Standard
September 21, 2023, 11:00 pm
0
8
Kin of drug war victims ask ICC to resume probe

The Philippines and Bangladesh are looking to expand defense cooperation through education and training as part of efforts to ensure...

Read more

Bamboo dresses

byDanny Pata
September 21, 2023, 10:50 pm
0
8
Christian fellowship

Senator Cynthia Villar takes a look at dresses made of bamboo during the launching of ‘KAWAYARN,’ an event featuring the...

Read more

Marcos says EU nations find exciting opportunities in Asia

byManila Standard
September 21, 2023, 10:40 pm
0
8
Roadside classroom

It is prudent that Europe considers the “exciting” opportunities Asia has to offer, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Wednesday....

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Day in Court
  • ‘Kids recruited into private army’
  • PCSO to launch first e-lottery in PH in November
  • Military chief seeks ‘meaningful conversations’ to end conflicts
  • PH, Bangladesh eye expansion of defense relations
  • PEZA meeting
  • Bamboo dresses
  • Tomorrow’s tech titans to set stage at PLDT Enterprise, Smart’s 2023 Startup Innovation Challenge

Advertisement

Latest News

PEZA meeting

byVer Noveno
September 21, 2023, 10:55 pm
0
8
Christian fellowship

Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez listens to a presentation by Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Tereso Panga and...

Read more

Bamboo dresses

byDanny Pata
September 21, 2023, 10:50 pm
0
8
Christian fellowship

Senator Cynthia Villar takes a look at dresses made of bamboo during the launching of ‘KAWAYARN,’ an event featuring the...

Read more

Tomorrow’s tech titans to set stage at PLDT Enterprise, Smart’s 2023 Startup Innovation Challenge

byManila Standard - Tech
September 21, 2023, 10:46 pm
0
8
Tomorrow’s tech titans to set stage at PLDT Enterprise, Smart’s 2023 Startup Innovation Challenge

As part of their commitment to drive technological innovation in the Philippines, PLDT Enterprise, the business-to-business arm of PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) have announced the...

Read more

Christian fellowship

byLino Santos
September 21, 2023, 10:45 pm
0
8
Christian fellowship

Rev. Ock Soo Park, founder of the International Youth Fellowship (IYF), speaks during a fellowship with Christian leaders, students, and...

Read more

DOST-STII, Converge, Pacific Kabelnet Group join forces to amplify DOST streaming experience

byManila Standard - Tech
September 21, 2023, 10:43 pm
0
8
DOST-STII, Converge, Pacific Kabelnet Group join forces to amplify DOST streaming experience

Converge CEO and Co-Founder, Dennis Anthony H. Uy leads the MOA signing. In an unparalleled collaboration, the Science and Technology...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Pets
  • Tech
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Cravings
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Agriculture
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App