Specie: Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

Image obtained from:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1073208798774034435?buttonSource=viewLimits
For educational use only.

Habitat: Platypuses are generally solitary, spending their lives either feeding along the
bottoms of rivers, streams, and lakes or resting in burrows dug into the banks. They are
extremely energetic, feeding almost continuously while in the water, shoveling through
streambed debris with their flat bills as they hunt for larval insects and freshwater
crustaceans

Image obtain from:

https://www.listal.com/viewimage/7641029
For educational use only.

Types of reproduction: The sexes avoid each other except to mate, and they do not mate
until they are at least four years old. Males often fight during the breeding season,
inflicting wounds on each other with their sharp ankle spurs. Courtship and mating take
place in the water from late winter through spring; timing varies with latitude, mating
occurring earlier in the more northern parts of the range and later in the more southerly
regions. After mating, a female will lay 1-3 eggs for the following a 21-days gestation
period. She then incubates the eggs for possibly 10 days, after which the lactation period
lasts for 3-4 months before the young emerge from the burrow. This means that their
reproduction is sexual, through fertilization. They usually start this breeding season when
the water is cold.
Growth stages:

Image obtain from:

https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/Xv9wz72ON6J0jg/p4-life-cycle
For educational use only.

- Egg stage: During the egg incubation period, a female holds the eggs pressed by
her tail to her belly, while curled up. She intermittently leaves the burrow,
however, much of this aspect of the animal’s life is still unknown.
- Young age: When the young hatch, the female begins to secrete milk and the
young platypus suckle from the two hair-covered milk spots on the female's
abdomen. The female spends most of this time with her young in the burrow, and
as the young grow older, she leaves them more and more to forage. Towards the
end of summer, the young emerge from the burrow and their fate as independent
young animals is still largely unknown.

Image obtained from:

https://www.ninha.bio.br/biologia/ornitorrinco.html
For educational use only.

- Adult: Males and females become fully grown between ages 12 and 18 months,
and they become sexually mature at about age 18 months. They are long-lived for
small mammals. Some studies have documented individuals living more than 20
years in the wild. The platypus can survive for nearly 23 years in captivity.
Platypuses are active all year round, but mostly during twilight and in the night.
During day, individuals shelter in a short burrow in bank. The activity patterns of
 these animals are determined by a number of factors including: locality, human
activity, ambient temperatures, day length and food availability.

Types of feeding: The Platypus feeds mainly during the night on a wide variety of aquatic
invertebrates. The average foraging periods last for 10-12 hours per day, and the
distances the animals move during this time vary between individuals and their
distribution. The animal closes its eyes, ears and nostrils when foraging underwater and
its primary sense organ is the bill, equipped with receptors sensitive to pressure, and with
electro-receptors. The Platypus stays underwater for between 30-140 seconds, collecting
the invertebrates from the river bottom and storing them in its cheek-pouches. The diet
consists mainly of the benthic invertebrates, particularly the insect larvae. The species also
feeds on free-swimming organisms: shrimps, swimming beetles, water bugs and tadpoles,
and at times worms, freshwater pea mussels and snails. Occasionally the animals catch
cicadas and moths from the water surface. In captivity, the Platypuses are often fed
freshwater crayfish. Platypuses are mostly carnivores, since they consume what they find
with the help of their beaks, underwater.

Image obtained from:

https://www.istockphoto.com/es/search/2/image?phrase=platypus
For educational use only.

Geographical space and habitat: Platypuses occur in freshwater systems from tropical
rainforest lowlands and plateaus of far northern Queensland to cold, high altitudes of
Tasmania and the Australian Alps. The presence of logs, twigs, and roots, as well as
cobbled or gravel water substrate result in increased microinvertebrate fauna (a main
food source), and the Platypus also tends to be more abundant in areas with pool-riffle
sequences.

Food chain: The bacteria are the producers, the beginning of the chain, then the algae
consume these bacteria, after that, the shrimp eats those algae and the platypus eats the
shrimps, that means that the platypus is the tertiary consumer in the chain, and in some
occasions the alligator consume the platypus, as the predator. Platypuses spend most of
their time in water or their burrow, so it is difficult to determine their predators. There
have been anecdotal reports of the species being predated on by crocodiles, goannas,
carpet pythons, eagles and large native fish. In addition, it is likely that foxes, and possibly
dogs or dingoes kill Platypuses that move on land or in shallow waters.
 1. Describe the importance of the species in their environment.
 Platypuses are not only cute and furry, since in their habitat they
serve as an indicator of the state of the water in which they find
themselves, since their diet is based on aquatic animals, as
mentioned before, so the waters they must be clean so that it can
feed properly.
2. Explain whether climate change or any environmental issue threatens their
reproduction.
 The stage of reproduction of a platypus or is something that is not
determined, since it depends on the community, some can start
between August and others in October. What is more present at the
time of reproduction is the temperature of the water, since it has to
be cold for the males to begin courting the females, until mating
finally occurs, so the change in temperature of the water is the most
remarkable factor and could affect reproduction
3. How would the loss of the species from their habitat affect humans?
 The flow of water would be irregular, since they make quite long
burrows to inhabit them. The water from the lakes they habit could
not be used, since platypuses are indicators that the water is in
good condition, therefore there would be water shortages.

Information used to answer the past questions:

(Question 1 & 3) ORNITORRINCOPEDIA. (n.d.). Datos e información sobre el ornitorrinco.

Retrieved February 9, 2022, from http://www.ornitorrincopedia.com/datos-informacion/

(Question 2) Divljan, A. (2021, June 16). Platypus. The Australian Museum. Retrieved
February 9, 2022, from https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/platypus/
Conclusion:

All species have an important role in the place where they are found, personally I did not
know that platypuses had that utility of being indicators, but once I read the information, I
understood that due to their diet they spend a lot of time in the water, although they only
guide by their beak, by means of vibrations in the water, since when they submerge, they
keep their eyes closed. I consider the platypus to be an extremely interesting animal, due
to all the characteristics of different animals that it brings together. Before, I only thought
that it was a simple animal that only existed to be beautiful, but now I understand that no
matter how small the species, it has its function, and if for some reason it were to
disappear, its entire environment would be affected.

Investigating more deeply about a species that I already knew made me realize how little I
know about this species, since I only knew that its young were born through the
incubation of eggs, I had no idea what its beak can do. At the beginning of this evidence, I
decided to choose the platypus since it was the animal that has the most visual appeal for
me, I did not expect to find the information already presented and how important they
are for the river in which they are found. This activity was useful for me to understand that
each animal has its function in its ecosystem and how much it can affect its loss.