Saturday, February 4, 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
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • 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
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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

PH, US revive joint sea patrols

byMacon Ramos-Araneta
February 4, 2023, 1:50 am
0
8
US Defense chief Austin to tackle security initiatives with PH officials

To help address security challenges in SCS amid China's military rise The United States and the Philippines have agreed to...

Read more

Indonesia tells major powers to keep SEA out of rivalries

byAFP
February 4, 2023, 1:40 am
0
8
Indonesia tells major powers to keep SEA out of rivalries

Indonesia told major powers not to use Southeast Asia as a "proxy" for their rivalries Friday at the start of...

Read more

NEDA approves six big-ticket projects worth over P100b

byVince Lopez
February 4, 2023, 1:30 am
0
8
An eventful year for PH mining industry

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan on Friday said the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board has approved six big-ticket...

Read more

Oil price rollback as much as P2/liter likely next Tuesday to snap 3-wk hike

byAlena Mae S. Flores
February 4, 2023, 1:20 am
0
8
Price cuts on kerosene, diesel, but gas unchanged

Diesel will likely go down P2 a liter and gasoline by almost as much next week as oil companies adjust...

Read more

BI relieves warden facility head, staff

byRey E. Requejo
February 4, 2023, 1:10 am
0
8
BI relieves warden facility head, staff

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has relieved the head and other personnel of its warden facility after six mobile phones...

Read more

OFW in Kuwait paralyzed after fall from 3rd floor

byJoyce Pangco Panares
February 4, 2023, 1:00 am
0
8
Vax wastage, infection surge feared in Odette-hit areas

A 34-year-old overseas Filipino worker in Kuwait has become paralyzed from the waist down after escaping her “abusive” employer by...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Trending destinations in the Philippines
  • Hong Kong’s ‘luckiest spots’ to visit in the Year of the Rabbit
  • Empowering Little People through fashion
  • Level up your look with Style by Lazada
  • Albert Andrada Paris Fashion Week 2023 show moved to July
  • Cebu-based micro-enterprise continues to innovate, diversify
  • Pharma firm releases new Access to Medicines report
  • Sustainable packaging takes centerstage at Propak PH

Advertisement

Latest News

Cebu-based micro-enterprise continues to innovate, diversify

byOthel V. Campos
February 4, 2023, 7:10 pm
0
8
Pharma firm releases new Access to Medicines report

Multi-awarded micro-enterprise Sandria’s Delicious Concept is rebooting systems to start anew projects stalled by the health crisis, building more connections...

Read more

Pharma firm releases new Access to Medicines report

byManila Standard Business
February 4, 2023, 7:00 pm
0
8
Pharma firm releases new Access to Medicines report

Biopharmaceutical leader Takeda recently released its Access to Medicines Progress Report 2022, highlighting the company’s efforts in broadening access to...

Read more

Sustainable packaging takes centerstage at Propak PH

byManila Standard Business
February 4, 2023, 6:50 pm
0
8
Sustainable packaging takes centerstage at Propak PH

The World Packaging Organization (WPO) called on stakeholders and players in the packaging and manufacturing industries to educate people better...

Read more

LandBank engages Lake Sebu stakeholders on capacity building

byManila Standard Business
February 4, 2023, 6:40 pm
0
8
Sustainable packaging takes centerstage at Propak PH

The Land Bank of the Philippines through its foundation conducted trainings on financial literacy and natural farming in Lake Sebu...

Read more

E-commerce enabler gets 3-star award as Lazada partner

byManila Standard Business
February 4, 2023, 6:30 pm
0
8
E-commerce enabler gets 3-star award as Lazada partner

Leading e-commerce enabler for brands in the Philippines, etaily, was the recipient of the 3-star certification from the Lazada Partners...

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
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • 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