It's like Klaatu in The Day The Earth Stood Still saying he is going to save the world. "So you are going to save us humans?" "No, I am going to save the world."
42
"Platypuses may be of value for human medicine."
I shudder whenever someone makes a value statement about another species based upon what that species can do for humans. Can't we just recognize the uniqueness of every living thing and how it fits into the ecological mosaic without asking what it can do for me?
147
If you wish to consider contributing to a charity that rescues these unique creatures, check out the Australian charity, Wildlife Victoria at:
www.wildlifevictoria.org.au
29
Guess what humans, sometimes, just sometimes, it aint about you...
We are not the only creatures on this planet, just the most destructive.
51
It’s not a mammal. It’s a marsupial.
5
@Monica Maynard
actually, they are marsupial mammals, as opposed to most of our northern mammals, which are placental mammals.
So, they are mammals, just on an a different evolutionary branch than our (USA) familiar mammals.
20
@Biologist
I meant that they are Monotreme mammals. Almost all the other mammals in Australia are marsupials.
23
"The platypus is imperiled by habitat loss, predation by feral cats, and now drought and wildfires wrought by climate change."
But, "Bushfires have killed approximately 800 people in Australia since 1851, and billions of animals. ... Other major conflagrations include the 1851 Black Thursday bushfires, the 2006 December bushfires, the 1974-75 fires that burned up 15% of Australia, and the ongoing 2019–20 bushfires."
I am waiting for the day when a pyromaniac says with an innocent face, "what can you expect? It was global warming."
We do NOT know that the bushfires in Australia were caused by climate change. I suspect that it had an effect, but as long ago as 1851 when Trump, the "major cause of climate change" had not even been born?
6
The first mammal species has gone extinct due to rising sea levels brought about by climate change (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/climate-change-claims-its-first-mammal-extinction/) That climate change is not due to humans burning fossil fuels, inter alia, is untenable.
We have driven and continue to drive innumerable species to extinction. Insects in the Amazon are going extinct before they can even be described by science--we don't know what we have forever lost. No doubt other taxa have been lost as well.
We can not sit back and be fatalistic or deny climate change because of special economic interests. We have created this mess any we are the only ones that clean it up. Period.
I urge everyone to read David Wallace-Wells' book,"The Uninhabitable Earth" (ISBN 978-0-525-57670-9). The book also has been highlighted by the PBS News Hour (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-climate-change-is-an-all-encompassing-threat).
14
I think the title of “world’s strangest mammal” most definitely belongs to Homo Sapiens.
54
“How do we have the resources to be able to say, ‘All right, let’s go rescue 50 platypus’?”
Note the bizarre-looking punctuation at the end of that sentence. Although I agree with this editorial decision, isn't the result a propos of the subject matter?
Btw, as the proud daddy of Princess Mooky, who I raised from a feral kitten, I'm so tired of cats being blamed for the decline and fall of every species smaller than a breadbox!
6
Send them to safety right here in the good ol' US of A!
trump has only signed 95 executive actions designed to poison the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the ground we walk on. That's only 1 every 12 day. Can't get any better than that!
17
A venomous spur behind ONE of its feet.
Any biologists around to explain? I would have thought that trait would be bilateral across the dorsal plane; i.e., on both hind feet.
10
Must disagree with the article.
I believe the world's strangest mammals are human beings who think they can destroy the planet which is their home and keep on living.
34
In an article that focuses on a single species, a more important headline question might be: "Can We Commit to Eliminating Feral Cat Populations."
12
Wait, platypus is a mammal ??
happy to report that a week of rain is heading Canberra's way. hopefully they will not be displaced for too long.
6
I would rate humans as the strangest mammals. Our willful destruction of everything in our path is truly unique.
12
I would consider the Pangolin as the world's strangest mammal but that's just my opinion.
7
"They evolved 120 million years ago" is a nonsensical statement. It may be that the common ancestor of marsupials, placentals and monotremes (of which the platypus is a member) diverged around that time, although that ancestor wasn't itself a platypus.
4
@John L. and they are still evolving!
4
"Can the World's Strangest Mammal Survive?" When I had just read the title alone, for a instant I thought the article would be about humans. Perhaps a more complete title for this article about the fate of the platypus would be, "Can the World's Strangest Mammal Survive Humans?"
10
I have in-laws in Australia, and regret to report that many people there believe that the wildfires were due to numerous crazies setting fires deliberately and that it may all be a conspiracy cooked up by the "greenies," as they call the environmentally responsible there, i.e., liberals in the cities. I'm not kidding. The same people are in love with coal and other mineral extraction, particularly the upper middle classes and nouveau riche, since that is often what their prosperity is based on. These people have a lot in common with Trump voters in the U.S., just take a look at the benighted, pollution-besotted government in Australia.
21
I'm no engineer, but if we can undertake such massive projects as redirecting rivers, digging up entire mountains and processing billions of acres of forests, isn't supplementing wetlands, rivers and lakes with desalinated ocean water more than feasible? We destroy habitats every day, but we don't often try to rebuild them or build new ones, and we'd eventually get it back through water sheds and wells anyway.
7
I'm an adamantly indoors person, with zero interest in camping, hiking, or experiencing the great outdoors in any way. My idea of a perfect vacation is a week of London theatres + museums.
But -- thanks to documentaries and photos -- I have long marveled at the variety in nature. Even walking in my neighborhood and looking at the moderate variation in trees, shrubs, flowers, and weeds is cause to marvel.
And I can't understand how anyone (djt, Ross, Zinke, anyone who self-identifies as a GOP, centrist Dems who adore Wall Street above all else) can see but not see, can fail to understand that Nature is miraculous and deserves to be treated respectfully.
Of course, Nature will have the final word, bc humans' refusal to address anthropogenic climate change will wipe out humans. Unfortunately, it will also wipe out innumerable species that don't deserve such an end.
25
80% of the east coast Great Dividing Range has not been
burnt so from this habitat it should recover loss in fires.
Doomsayers abound but this event is not the end. There are patches of survivor areas as well.Just add water and it will return.
4
@william cox Dear All Knowing One, water is desperately needed here but the problem for aquatic species is that the run-off will poison streams and rivers. This was mentioned but you seem to have overlooked it - why? No need to answer.
18
The platypus had always been my favorite animal. Even as a child I was fascinated by these beautiful animals. I hope they survive so all our following generations may experience them.
28
One of the ironies of my later years - Life In The Age of Epidemics and Connectivity, of viruses organic and viruses not - is a creeping sanitation, an insidious sterilization of a natural world that seemed so complicated and messy and abundant in my youth. Where are the birds? Where are the insects? Where are the fish?
As the spirit of a species concentrates in its ever decreasing numbers, one imagines the death of its last member to somehow be more significant than the millions which preceded it. Yet the expression on its face and the sound of its last breath will be no different. Each leaves without fanfare. One less species to worry about - and I am made less alive because of it.
Respect and admiration for the people mentioned in this piece. Know that you are lifeline.
39
An Australian friend gave my daughter a soft brown “plush” platypus as a baby present. Although it was rather unassuming in shape and color compared to all the other assorted animals in her large stuffed animal menagerie, it was always the one she preferred. She slept with it and carried it everywhere, which required me ( and later her) to learn the French word for platypus -ornithorynque- as everyone was always asking what it was. It’s one of the few baby toys she kept and now when my French/American grandchildren visit they have not only learned both names they have developed a real interest in this remarkable animal.
51
@Susan Our grown family can still sing the song from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, "Ornithoryncus anitinus, Anna, Anna, AAAAnna" (the puppet's name was Anna).
9
The people who have studied bushfires in Australia advise that the current and recent fires are the worst we have experienced. Long term locals have also expressed the same opinion.
I Don’t know what the Cornwall Alliance has published but if it is as the previous writer has advised then it is incorrect in regards to Australia. I have seen platypus in the wild many years ago and they are wonderful.
14
I run an elementary school library. As I shelve the picture books I often wonder how long the animals that so much kid lit has as characters will survive? Will children in a decade or two look upon the koalas and rhinos and polar bears in their picture books the way we currently look upon the dodo bird? I weep for what we are losing.
64
I’m glad the article described the platypus as not exactly a mammal. The headline did call it a mammal. It’s a monotreme. The article itself is wonderful, and I hope it can lead to a consciousness of how important human contributed extreme climate instability is for not only the survival of these wonderful monotremes, but for all of us.
50
If China would content itself with eating farm animals, that would certainly relieve one area of pressure on our ever-dwindling biodiversity.
I suppose we could all do a good turn as well by stop consuming products that use palm oil: 150,000 orangutans killed in the past decade to clear land for palm oil plantations. I didn't know there were even that number in the world. No longer.
54
@NorthernVirginia It is not limited to CHina all developed countries would do well to eat less meat. don't help either and farmed animals suffer immensely. Agree 100% about palm oil. I have made it a point not to buy anything made with palm oil if I can help it. I read all labels: food, hair care products, soap; cleaning supplies.
33
@NorthernVirginia I check ingredients lists for palm oil so I can avoid it.
The human race is the pits, really.
14
The main thing is: 2019 was the best year ever.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/opinion/sunday/2019-best-year-poverty.html
Humans are on course for 11 billion, or 20 or whatever. And we are doing great. And that's what matters. Freaky little animals that don't do anything for us have to get out of the way. That's how it is.
7
@r a
Your comment, and those like it, are just proof to me that humans are too self-centered and oblivious to survive prolonged existence on this planet.
7
@r a I suggest you look up 'the tragedy of the commons' because that is what we are repeating except on a global scale. Our current 'best' results from relative stability and peace as well as destroying the long term carrying capacity of the earth. We are gluttons eating our own future. Except the next collapse is going to be global in scale, not local, and the peace and stability that has enabled our 'best years' will turn out to be ephemeral, doubly so with 'just in time' supply chains that span the globe. I'll put a cool $1000 down that by 2050 we'll look back and wonder how good we had it and how stupid we were.
10
@r a
I hope you're kidding.
It's 11 billion by mid century. We're at about 7-1/2 billion now.
5
lovely animals
27
Homo sapiens is a destructive species. We like to congratulate ourselves on our cleverness but the jury is not yet in on the adaptive nature of our brains and thumbs. In the meanwhile billions of other creatures suffer at our hands.
87
@Skier
The adaptability we have developed comes largely from cooperation. Read the list of authors on scientific papers and see how often they reflect a diversity of institutions and people.
The more nationalistic we become, the more vulnerable we are.
12
Unless there is profit in it for me we don't care. OK, some of you may, but the greater we, we don't care. We just want all the rules, and laws, and regulations, and PC caring gone. We've made it clear in those we've chosen to lead across the globe.
The snowflakes can take some pictures and move on. One less thing to worry about or have to worry about mitigating when I put up the next resort, building, or power plant.
14
@Marie
While from me this sarcasm, it's the truth of who we are now and what we've chosen. We don't care, or it wouldn't happen.
4
"World's strangest mammal"? Uh, I'm going w/ homo sapiens - the species that is happily committing communal suicide by gorging our obese selves on the planet's resources while blithely making Our Only Home unlivable for us and our beloved progeny.
Platypus? Whatever! I just scored cheap tickets so I'm flying to Costa Rico for a (badly needed?) long w/end.
26
Feral cats are a huge killer of wildlife as unpleasant as it might be to some they must eliminated from the wild to preserve native wildlife
48
@EAH
Australia's native animals face many threats. Their habitats are at significant risk but this doesn't dismiss the longstanding risks of predation from many introduced species that exist in significant numbers across parts of Australia namely foxes, and feral cats, dogs and pigs. This doesn't even address ecological damage from introduced rabbits, goats, horses and camels.
Eradication and containment of feral populations of animals are very uncomfortable issues to discuss but not taking clear and informed actions ultimately means a tragic outcome for Australia's unique animals.
14
It is both too expensive and too technically complex to “eliminate them from the wild.” People need to adopt stray animals and spay & neuter their pets. More importantly, we need to acknowledge that the biggest threat to all species is climate change & other human activities, and it is the responsibility of humans to change their behavior—humans are the biggest threat to all wildlife everywhere. Finally, some animals will go extinct, species have been going extinct since life first began—it is part of life and that simply has to be accepted.
4
Look up Costa Rica and see how we did it
11
Interesting...and great alliteration in the article’s title. Well done.
5
The bigger question should be how long can humans last with nuclear war, global warming and over population?
12
I much prefer wonderful to strange as an apt description of these animals.
Animasl whose biological roots begin deep in the last great age of the dinosaurs while surviving the terrestrial and extraterrestrial events that wiped the dinosaurs out except for the birds.
They aren't 'primitive'. Nor are they 'living fossils.'
They are extraordinary DNA biological evolutionary fit survivors who have been around a lot longer than African apes of the genus Homo.
77
Hoping these animals survive
37
I would argue that Homo sapiens is the world’s strangest mammal. It has a huge brain, but uses so little of it.
134
In the past forty years much of the natural world has been destroyed. The platypus will be extinct- along with tens of thousands of other species- and in exchange we will have more people. Tell your kids that- we traded a decent future for cheaper garbage. Curse all of us for allowing this to happen- I know our kids will.
48
"Habitat loss, predation by feral cats, and now wildfires wrought by climate change — how long can the world’s strangest mammal survive?"
You tell me. I read newspapers for answers, not questions.
4
@polymath You can read to get information then perhaps try and come up with a solution. Humans are the strangest creatures by far, so unwilling to use their most valuable body part: the brain. Instead they want others to think for them.
6
About 200 individuals set the fires that raged. Hard to blame the fires on climate change.
5
@George
repeating conspiracy lies doesn't make them true.
The number of people arrested for setting bush fires is in the dozens. There is always evil - but the reason that they can set them is because of the drought conditions and temperatures that make such blazes possible.
Other's have been charged with other fire things like improper disposal by burning and the like. But conflating the numbers to 180 like tabloids and then rounding off for good measure doesn't make them true.
40
@George Wrong. The Australian government watches this and it is estimated that 1-2% of the fires were set. Most are produced by dry lightning. The fires happen every year, by the way, and a nice plot of number of fires correlates with increased yearly temperature. So, yes, its climate change.
35
@George The idea that 200 individuals in same place and time had an intent to commit arson seems implausible on the face of it.
I can think of no such example in human history.
3
Australia is the planet's driest continent. In one lifetime(seventy years) the number of people in Australia has tripled. It seems inevitable that if you triple the number of one organism in such a dry environment other living things will be exterminated or greatly reduced in number.
22
The government of Australia should be removed from office for extreme irresponsible behavior by a public trust.
16
The anger and nausea I feel each time I hear another story about what human arrogance and self-centeredness have done to another species....!
Thank you, on the world's behalf, to the heroic zookeepers for your courage and persistence and tenderness toward the platypus. And thank you to all the animal rescue heroes that worked through the Australian tragedy.
65
@Wocky I like your comment. Some others not so much. The greed and selfishness from some of the commentators is appalling.
5
More people means less of everything else. Less wildlife. Less natural areas. Less clean and water. Less resources. A worse future for all of us.
29
One could say that every living being is unique, but some, like the platypus, are more so, both because of their physiology and their reduced populations.
I had no idea that Australia already had the worst extinction record- when I visited decades ago, Australians seemed much more knowledgeable about their wildlife than, say, Americans.
46
I would like to hope that the declining number and condition of platypuses, as well as the declining number and condition of other vanguard species such as polar bears, would provide the necessary impetus for substantive major changes in how humans interact with and treat the environment and their fellow creatures.
Then I read that Japan is planning a major increase in coal fired power plants, that Trump has abrogated another law for environmental protection, and I realize that such a hope is ridiculously misplaced. The platypus is going to go extinct in the wild in my lifetime. Human beings will last a bit longer.
82
3000 comments on the dysfunction of the Democrats in Iowa, and 15 comments on the potential extinction of one of Earth's most magnificent creatures.
I'm pretty sure I'd like to see the current DNC go extinct and replaced with something else (and the modern GOP as well) way before the platypus.
51
@Bob Lob : The results in Iowa will determine, among other things, whether the US takes action in 2021 or continues on this insane climate-crisis denialism.
And, it's breaking news -- of course it's going to draw more eyes than this not-prominently-placed piece.
But, yes, it's depressing.
5
@Bob Lob Agreed!
4
We must save every type of animal, plant and insect we can. They all add something to the strength and health of the earth, something we may not, in many cases, even know. Or not yet understand.
It is not about them being cute or so different!
And, by the way, stop blaming "feral cats" for all disasters in Australia! How about blaming, rightfully, humans of European descent?
16
I think the platypi are not mammals. They lay eggs outside their bodies and do not nurse them after birth. I've been told they are monotremes, which I didn't know before, but for sure they're not mammals.
1
@Tina You're correct; they are monotremes. However they do nurse their young with milk (as stated in the article) produced by their mammary glands. They are not placental mammals, but they are a type of mammal.
I do question the statement that the males have the spur on "one of their hind feet". Only one? very strange if so.
8
I finished reading the third J.Lo story in the last two days before I read this and couldn't bear the superficiality anymore. Seeing the homely little platypus renews my hopes for the planet's survival whereas from the previous I could have cared less.
37
@John Doe I think it is cute :)
4
Why not encourage more zoos and wildlife parks internationally to take rescued playtypus and try to breed them? They are amazing animals but I have seen none outside of Australia. There is no point in letting them just die.
Australia and the world will keep having more terrible fires. So prepare.
Sad to say there is limited money for saving endangered species. But this is one tremendously interesting species and will continue to be important for understanding more about the early evolution of mammals.
15
@Joe-yonge
they are important and must be saved, however it can be done. Ideally, they would be (or some of them) eventually released back into the wild, if there is still any "wild" left.
10
I disagree with the commenter who said climate change is a “convenient, in-vogue” distraction from the “real problems.” It is a very real threat and terribly inconvenient. I’m saddened and ashamed that so many choose to argue and delay any climate action instead of doing better for future generations. Whether people ultimately agree with the cause of a problem or not, doesn’t everyone want to solve the problem?
66
If traveling to Sydney, the Taronga Zoo is worth a visit. The platypus exhibit alone is worth the price of admission.
50
@Bello
If people are visiting Melbourne, the Healesville Sanctuary also is a great place to see platypus.
12
They are difficult to see in the wild but if lucky you can catch a glimpse at Eungella National Park, near Mackay, north Qld
2
As more and more ecosystems are disrupted, the plight if the platypus may be seen all too often. The conditions needed for many species to survive are going to be altered around the planet. Each endangered species will be subject to tipping point failures.
55
@glennmr I vividly recall worrying about them as a little boy, but haven't thought much about them since. The picture reminds me of that long ago time of wonder. What spectacular little things they are -- and remain still! Save them!
16
Of the too-many losses I’ve suffered in life, learning the last duck-billed platypus is also gone forever would be among the worst.
Hopefully I’ll be gone first. Good luck with the planet, next generation, since mine has failed you.
155
@Rich Crank
We'll make good pets.
3
I spent 5 hours staked out at creek in Australia waiting for a platypus a few weeks ago. I saw one for maybe five seconds. I feel pretty lucky. I fear my children will never have this chance.
Sorry, really doesn't cover my emotions as I know we are leaving them with less.
120
While climate change is obviously a looming threat, it's wrong to falsely blame wildfires for climate change as there is no evidence to support that. if you look at graphs of wildfires over the past 100 years, you will see that wildfires are at a significant low, and have relatively plateaued since a slight increase after the 80's. There is a graph on Cornwall Alliances website that takes into account both occurrences and acreage, and even Forbe's notes that global wildfires ha e been on a downward trend since the early 2000's.
Please do not use your privilege as a journalist to spread false presumptions.
3
500,000 or more animals have died. Species found no where else. Volunteer firefighters have died. The wisdom of indigenous people overlooked.
What happened wasn’t natural or normal. This is a tragedy for the humans and animals in Australia and the world.
163
@Dominic Ciarlante - the article doesn’t say the fires are the cause of climate change, it blames them for platypus habitat loss, which is valid.
79
@Dominic Ciarlante - What is a concern in this present moment is intensity of the fires in a given short period of time, which is of increaseingly rising temperatures. The present time needs a higher degree of insight. Even if no fires had been sparked, it is still a hottest December and year on record for that region. Short sighted human dismissal (as well as fundimentalists of all stripes) will kill us all.
19