Geoff Williams is the director of the Australian Platypus Conservancy. Since 1992, he has dedicated his time to better understanding and protecting this incredible monotreme. Evan Wallace caught up with the biologist to learn more about the work of the conservancy and how we can support this special animal.
How would you describe the work of the Australian Platypus Conservancy?
The conservancy was set up in 1994 at a point where very little research was done on the platypus. The official view of it was, it was a common species and it wasn't one you have to worry about.
By the early 1990s, it was becoming clear that we'd made a bit of a mess of our river systems in most places and inevitably that had an impact on platypus.
There was a need firstly to find out where platypus were occurring because there really wasn't a good map of platypus distribution, and secondly to try to identify the key factors that platypus need.
Our emphasis over the last 10 years has been trying to set up monitoring programs so that we can keep track of how populations are doing.
What do you most love about the platypus?
It is still difficult to believe it's a real animal. You could easily understand why when Europeans first came to Australia and the platypus first came to the notice of Western societies, they actually disbelieved what they were seeing.
The scientists who looked at the first specimen sent back to England in about 1790 took it out of the barrel and just couldn't believe it. He thought it must be some sort of fake made up of sticking together parts of other animals.
And that's true even today — when you see one with this amazing bill and its webbed feet, it’s such a strange looking animal. You think this is a joke, this can't be the real animal.
And yet it is. They've got their distinctive personality within that bizarre structure that you can't help but like it. You know, there's something about platypus that you just see one and you just love them.
Why is it so hard to spot a platypus in the wild?
There are a number of myths about platypus and one is that they are shy and sensitive and whatever — they're not.
They're actually quite a tough little bugger ... and they're actually quite good at what they do. They are quite resilient species, and although they have gone down in numbers, in most places, actually probably over millions and millions of years they have adapted to be very successful at what they do.
I think the problem is most people, you know, walk along the river and they might glance, but they (don’t) really stand still long enough to actually scan the water and look for the telltale signs. And if you’re prepared to do that, platypus really give themselves away really easily.
What changes would you like to see government make to support platypus habitat?
It's totally unacceptable that people can still let their stock — cows and sheep — come down into the water to drink.
These animals come down, they trample the banks which makes it unstable. So it's very difficult for platypus to build their burrows in areas which are being trampled by stock. And of course, the stock itself get into the water and pollute it in various ways ... you know, so it's degrading the habitat in all sorts of ways.
For people who are keen to to get involved in efforts to support platypus monitoring, what would you recommend?
Our Australian platypus monitoring network is the program where individuals can get involved in scanning for platypus in their local area and it's a really simple system.
Basically, they can choose places that are convenient to them and simply scan for five-minute periods at each site they want to use.