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Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

The platypus is a semi-aquatic monotreme that lives in permanent freshwater systems across eastern Australia, Tasmania, King Island and an introduced population on Kangaroo Island. On development sites, clearing, bank disturbance, altered flows, sedimentation, barriers, litter and fish traps can remove burrows, reduce aquatic prey and isolate local populations.

Conservation status

Victoria, Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988: Vulnerable.

South Australia, National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972: Endangered.

Breeding season

Platypuses are active year round, but breeding and dependent young create the highest risk period for bank disturbance. Timing varies from north to south, so local records and state guidance should be checked before works begin.

The risk row is a precautionary field-planning guide based on the documented breeding and young-rearing periods. Platypuses and burrows may be present outside these months, so habitat checks are required year round.

  • Breeding: Mating is generally in late winter and spring. It is reported around August in Queensland, August to October in New South Wales, and August to November in Victoria.
  • Young: Females incubate eggs for about 10 days to two weeks, then raise young in the burrow for about 3 to 4 months. Young commonly emerge towards the end of summer, with lactating females recorded from September to March.
  • Movement and foraging: Platypuses do not undertake a regular seasonal migration. They are active throughout the year and forage mainly at dusk, dawn and night. Local movement depends on flow, food availability, temperature, day length and disturbance.
  • Highest clearing risk: The highest risk is during late winter and spring mating and during the following period when females are nesting and young remain dependent. Bank excavation, clearing, vibration, dewatering and disturbance can affect breeding females, burrows and emerging young.

Identification

Platypuses are low-profile, semi-aquatic mammals that are usually detected by direct sightings, burrow entrances and characteristic swimming behaviour. They are most likely to be seen quietly at dusk, dawn or during the night in streams, rivers, lakes and dams.

The body is streamlined and flattened, with dense dark brown to reddish brown waterproof fur, a broad flat tail and short, splayed limbs. The front feet are webbed for swimming, while the hind feet act as rudders. The broad, soft bill, absence of external ear pinnae and low swimming profile are distinctive.

When swimming, only about 10 per cent of the furred body is normally visible. A conspicuous bow wave may be produced by the front feet. A dive is usually marked by the back arching as the animal disappears, leaving a small ring of ripples.

Adult male: Usually 400 to 630 mm long and 800 to 3000 g.

Adult female: Usually 370 to 550 mm long and 600 to 1700 g.

  • Look for a bill and broad flat tail on a low-floating animal.
  • Look for smooth swimming driven by the front feet, rather than the zigzag tail movement of a water dragon.
  • A water rat has a pointed face and generally a white tail, and swims with its head above the water.
  • A turtle usually shows only its small round head, while a platypus shows part of the body and tail when swimming.

Identification: Sex differences

Males are generally larger than females. Adult males have a sharp horny spur on each ankle, connected to a venom gland in the upper leg. The spurs are most active during the breeding season, and manual handling of males requires species-specific procedures.

  • Do not attempt to catch or restrain a platypus solely for identification.
  • Treat an animal with visible ankle spurs as a male and avoid contact with the hind limbs.
  • Use a suitably experienced wildlife veterinarian or fauna handler for any intervention.

Identification: Field signs

Platypuses construct resting and nesting burrows in earth banks, commonly just above water level and often among tree roots. Nesting burrows can be complex, with multiple tunnels, chambers and dead ends. Entrances may be difficult to detect because the species is cryptic and spends much of the day in the burrow.

Other useful signs are a low bow wave, a quiet arched-back dive, surface ripples and repeated use of a section of bank. Captive animals produce a low-pitched growl when disturbed or handled, but the supplied sources do not establish a reliable wild call, track, scat or eyeshine feature for field identification.

  • Inspect earth banks above the waterline for burrow entrances, particularly where roots, overhanging vegetation and stable soil provide cover.
  • Record repeated surface observations, swim direction, time and location rather than relying on a single ripple or splash.
  • Do not enter, block, collapse or fill a suspected burrow during clearing or bank works.

Distribution: National range

The platypus is endemic to eastern Australia and associated islands. Its distribution follows permanent freshwater systems, but occurrence is discontinuous in some catchments and local populations may be isolated or extinct.

The species occurs in eastern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, including King Island. It also has a small introduced population on the western end of Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is not naturally known from Western Australia, and it does not occur on Cape York Peninsula.

Across this range, platypuses occupy permanent rivers and streams from tropical lowlands and plateaus to cold high-altitude areas of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. On the mainland, river basins often function as distinct population units, with limited gene flow between river systems.

Bioregional pattern: Freshwater systems range from tropical rainforest lowlands and plateaus to temperate rivers, alpine environments and cold Tasmanian catchments. The supplied sources do not provide an IBRA bioregion list.

Western limit: Poorly known in parts of the range.

  • Queensland: eastern rivers and some western-flowing streams, with the northern range close to the coast.
  • New South Wales: eastern and western-flowing river systems, including the upper Shoalhaven and other permanent streams.
  • Victoria: eastern, central and south-western waterways, with the drier north-west generally unsuitable and local losses recorded around Melbourne and in parts of the Wimmera.
  • Tasmania and King Island: widespread freshwater systems, with less genetic structuring in Tasmania than on the mainland.
  • South Australia: extinct from the former Adelaide Hills and Mount Lofty Ranges population, apart from the introduced Kangaroo Island population.

Distribution: Strongholds and trends

The species remains widely distributed, but broad distribution can conceal local declines, reduced abundance and local extinction. Populations are reasonably continuous in some catchments and discontinuous in others. Evidence of decline is strongest in some regulated, urbanised, drought-affected and fragmented catchments.

Population size is difficult to estimate because platypuses are cryptic, have low recapture rates and require substantial survey effort. Genetic studies identify strong structure between river systems, so loss of a local population may not be readily replaced by animals from a nearby catchment.

Published population estimate: No reliable national population estimate is provided in the supplied sources.

Generation length: Estimated at 9 to 12 years, with approximately 10 years used as the generation time.

Genetic structure: Whole-genome work found strong population structure over about 0.8 million years and no evidence of gene flow between sampled river systems.

  • Treat occupied catchments and connected reaches as population units during impact assessment.
  • Do not infer absence from a short visual survey, particularly where detection conditions, flow, temperature or observer disturbance are unsuitable.
  • Consider eDNA, visual surveys and appropriately designed capture and mark-recapture work where a presence or population assessment is required.

Habitat: Waterways and water bodies

Platypuses are entirely dependent on freshwater ecosystems but use both water and adjacent banks. Suitable sites combine reliable surface water, productive benthic habitat, stable banks for burrowing and intact riparian cover.

The species occurs in rivers, creeks, lakes connected to rivers, farm dams, reservoirs and other freshwater bodies with reliable surface water. It forages in both slow-moving water and riffles, and may use fast water at speeds of about 1 metre per second.

Preferred aquatic habitat includes pool and riffle sequences, cobbles or gravel, large woody debris and complex bottom structure. Reported occurrence or foraging features include reliable surface flow, pool depths of 1 to 3 m and cobbled substrate.

Reported pool depth: 1 to 3 m is associated with occurrence or foraging activity in the Victorian assessment.

Climate range: The species occurs from tropical Queensland to cold, high-altitude Tasmania and the Australian Alps.

  • Retain permanent pools, riffles, connected channels and natural flow paths.
  • Protect cobble, gravel, woody debris and other benthic structure from removal or burial.
  • Avoid works that disconnect pools, reduce baseflow or change the timing and volume of flows.

Habitat: Banks and riparian vegetation

Favourable sites have stable or consolidated earth banks, often more than 0.5 m high, with undercuts, overhanging native vegetation and tree roots. Riparian vegetation shades the water, protects banks and provides cover near burrow entrances.

Logs, twigs, roots and coarse substrate support aquatic macroinvertebrates, which are the main food resource. Bank erosion, sedimentation and clearing of native riparian vegetation can therefore affect both shelter and food supply.

  • Retain stable, undercut and overhanging banks, particularly above the normal waterline.
  • Maintain native riparian vegetation and root structure along occupied or potentially suitable reaches.
  • Prevent sediment from entering pools, riffles and burrow banks during earthworks.

Habitat: Site constraints

Platypuses can tolerate a range of freshwater settings, including some artificial dams and reservoirs, but they are sensitive to unreliable flows, high temperatures and degraded aquatic systems. Their body temperature is maintained near 32°C, and they are not able to withstand environmental temperatures above about 30°C.

  • Assess connected upstream and downstream habitat, not only the project footprint.
  • Include water temperature, flow reliability, bank stability, substrate and riparian cover in habitat assessments.
  • Protect the species from excessive noise, vibration, electrical currents and abrupt changes to water quality where works occur near occupied habitat.

Foraging habitat: Diet and feeding method

Platypuses forage underwater, mainly at night, using electroreceptors and mechanoreceptors in the bill to locate prey. They collect prey from the bottom and store it in cheek pouches before returning to the surface to chew it.

The diet consists mainly of benthic aquatic invertebrates, particularly insect larvae. Other recorded prey includes freshwater shrimps, crayfish, swimming beetles, water bugs, tadpoles, worms, freshwater pea mussels and snails. Cicadas and moths may occasionally be taken from the water surface.

During a foraging dive, the eyes, ears and nostrils close. The bill detects tactile and electrical cues and is used to search and sift the substrate. Prey is held in cheek pouches and ground between keratinised plates and ridges after the animal returns to the surface.

Daily energy demand: Captive platypuses may eat the equivalent of about 20 per cent of body weight daily.

Foraging duration: Foraging commonly lasts 8 to 16 hours per day, with average periods also reported as 10 to 12 hours.

Dive duration: Wild foraging dives commonly last 30 to 140 seconds, with about 10 to 15 seconds at the surface between dives.

  • Protect benthic cobble, gravel, woody debris and root structure that support macroinvertebrate prey.
  • Prevent sediment, nutrient enrichment, toxicants and stormwater contaminants from reducing aquatic invertebrate communities.
  • Avoid removing natural banks or channel features used for repeated feeding.

Foraging habitat: Foraging area

Platypuses may feed in both slow-moving and rapid riffle sections, and move through connected pools and channels during a foraging bout. The supplied sources do not provide a single dependable foraging-range distance for use in impact buffers.

Foraging activity is associated with reliable surface flow, pool and riffle sequences, cobbled or gravel substrate, woody debris and abundant macroinvertebrates.

  • Survey both banks and the aquatic channel where works may affect flow, substrate or prey production.
  • Map connected pools, riffles, tributary junctions and refuge habitat upstream and downstream of the works.
  • Maintain passage around temporary works and prevent animals from becoming trapped in excavations, sumps or isolated pools.

Breeding habitat: Breeding biology

Breeding females need quiet, stable banks where they can excavate and maintain a long nesting burrow. Breeding activity is seasonal, but timing varies with latitude and individual condition.

Mating generally occurs in late winter and spring. In Victoria it occurs from August to the end of November, and in New South Wales commonly from August to October. Queensland mating is generally earlier, around August, while Tasmanian timing is later.

After mating, the female constructs or modifies a complex burrow with tunnels, chambers and dead ends. She lays eggs in a nesting chamber, incubates them while curled around them, and raises the young in the burrow. Milk is released through skin patches rather than teats.

Breeding season: Generally late winter and spring. In Victoria, mating is August to November; in New South Wales, commonly August to October.

Clutch size: One to three eggs, usually two.

Gestation: About 16 to 21 days, depending on the source and estimate.

Egg incubation: About 10 days to one to two weeks.

Lactation and dependence: Young remain in the burrow and suckle for about 3 to 4 months before emergence.

Age at maturity: Both sexes may reproduce from about 2 years, although some females do not breed until at least 4 years in the wild.

Lifespan: Wild animals may live about 20 to 21 years, with a captive record of about 25 years. Many wild animals survive approximately 6 to 15 years.

  • Avoid clearing, excavation, vibration and bank access near suspected nesting burrows during the breeding and dependent-young period.
  • Retain stable, vegetated banks and root systems above the waterline.
  • Use experienced platypus personnel and veterinary advice if a burrow or dependent female may be affected.

Breeding habitat: Breeding-site features

Nesting burrows are excavated in earth banks, often among tree roots. Females collect wet nesting material and may block the burrow with soil, which helps protect the nest from predators and floodwater and helps regulate temperature and humidity.

A suitable breeding reach therefore requires stable bank material, connected water for the female to forage, native vegetation and low disturbance. The supplied sources do not provide a standard stand-off distance from a nesting burrow.

Nursing burrow length: A Queensland Government source reports that a nursing burrow may be up to 30 m long.

Juvenile emergence: Young generally emerge towards the end of summer, after about 3 to 4 months of lactation.

  • Mark and protect any suspected nesting bank until a suitably experienced person has assessed it.
  • Do not remove roots, overhangs or accumulated natural debris that may support a burrow.
  • Keep lighting, noise, vibration, vehicle access and stockpiled material away from the water edge and bank face where practicable.

Sheltering habitat: Burrows

Resting and nesting shelter is normally provided by burrows in earth banks above the waterline. Platypuses may also shelter in rocky crevices, accumulated stream debris, low dense vegetation and roots near the stream.

Most daytime shelter is in a short resting burrow in the bank of a river, creek, pond, lake or dam. Nesting burrows are more complex and may include multiple tunnels, chambers and dead ends. Entrances are often associated with stable banks, undercuts and tree roots.

The animal may use a dry section of bank and enters from or near the water. Tunnel systems need to allow the animal to become dry before entering the nest chamber.

Reported nursing-burrow length: Up to 30 m.

Burrow setting: Usually an earth bank just above water level, often among tree roots.

  • Inspect banks above the waterline, especially where roots and overhanging vegetation provide concealment.
  • Do not collapse, fill, fence across or obstruct suspected burrow entrances.
  • Prevent bank machinery, trenching, dewatering and spoil placement from damaging burrow systems.

Sheltering habitat: Alternative refuges

When burrows are unavailable or while resting, platypuses may use rocky crevices, accumulated stream debris and low dense vegetation near the water. Logs, roots and natural bank cover can provide both concealment and access to foraging habitat.

  • Retain natural logs, root masses, rock crevices and dense low vegetation unless they create a demonstrated safety risk.
  • Keep temporary access tracks, lighting and construction compounds away from likely refuge banks.
  • Provide a clear route to water if bank vegetation or debris is being trimmed.

Sheltering habitat: Handling and exclusion

Platypuses are difficult to detect because they are cryptic and mainly nocturnal. They should not be flushed from a burrow or handled during routine clearing. Males have venomous ankle spurs, and any capture or relocation requires trained fauna personnel and veterinary oversight.

  • Stop work if a platypus is found in a work area, burrow or isolated pool.
  • Keep people, dogs and machinery away while the animal is assessed.
  • Use species-specific capture, exclusion and release procedures rather than improvised handling.

Threats: Clearing and construction

The main risks are loss and degradation of freshwater habitat, unreliable flows, bank damage, fragmentation and accidental mortality. Development impacts can act together, reducing food, shelter, movement and local population resilience.

Clearing riparian vegetation, removing roots and woody debris, excavating banks, stockpiling soil and allowing sediment to enter waterways can destroy burrows and reduce benthic prey. Urban and agricultural development can also introduce nutrient enrichment, heavy metals, stormwater contaminants and litter.

Flooding, erosion and sedimentation can damage consolidated banks and bury the coarse substrates used by aquatic invertebrates. Construction near occupied waterways should therefore maintain bank stability, water quality and natural channel structure.

  • Retain native riparian vegetation, overhanging banks, roots, logs, cobbles and gravel.
  • Use erosion and sediment controls before ground disturbance and maintain them throughout the works.
  • Keep spoil, fuels, concrete washout and contaminated water out of the channel and floodplain.
  • Inspect excavations, sumps, pipes and temporary drainage each day for trapped fauna.

Threats: Hydrology and fragmentation

Drought, water extraction, altered flow regimes and climate-driven drying reduce reliable surface water and can disconnect populations. Dams, weirs, poorly designed culverts and other in-stream structures may block movement, alter thermal and flow regimes or isolate subpopulations.

River basins act as distinct genetic units, so fragmentation can increase the risk associated with local population loss and reduce genetic diversity.

  • Maintain environmental flows and avoid dewatering occupied reaches where practicable.
  • Design crossings and culverts to retain aquatic passage, natural substrate and bank access.
  • Assess upstream and downstream effects, including pool disconnection during low flow.
  • Do not assume that a nearby catchment can replace a lost local population.

Threats: Roads, nets and litter

Road and crossing works can injure animals, damage banks and create barriers. Accidental drowning in fishing and crustacean nets affects platypuses across the range. Entanglement in litter is recorded in urban populations, and agricultural fences can also entangle animals moving along waterways.

Recorded litter entanglement: About 10 per cent of platypuses captured in the Melbourne Water Urban Platypus Program had current or previous evidence of litter entanglement, rising to up to 50 per cent in some urbanised areas.

  • Use fauna-safe drainage, crossing and temporary fencing details at waterways.
  • Remove loose wire, plastic, rubber, metal and other entangling material from banks and channels.
  • Keep construction fencing from forming a barrier between the water and bank burrows.
  • Do not leave nets, traps or similar structures in occupied waterways.

Threats: Predators, fire and disease

Red foxes, dogs and cats can prey on platypuses when they move on land or in shallow water. Other recorded or reported predators include snakes, water rats, goannas, crocodiles, eagles, carpet pythons and large native fish.

Fire, floods, drought and extreme heat can reduce or remove local populations by damaging banks, riparian vegetation, flow and food resources. Tasmanian platypuses are also affected by the ulcerative fungal disease mucormycosis, which can become fatal when infection spreads to other tissues, including the lungs.

  • Prevent domestic dogs from entering occupied riparian habitat during works.
  • Retain shaded banks and refuge cover after fire or vegetation clearing.
  • Report sick, injured or dead platypuses to the relevant state wildlife authority and seek veterinary advice.
  • Do not move soil, water, equipment or animals between catchments without considering pathogen and biosecurity risks.

Survey methodology: 1. Visual searches and spotlighting

Platypuses are elusive, mostly nocturnal or crepuscular animals that depend on permanent freshwater systems, stable banks and aquatic invertebrate prey. Survey design should focus on watercourses and connected wetlands, and should account for low detectability, variable flow and the need to avoid trapping injuries.

Survey rivers, creeks, connected lakes, farm dams and other permanent freshwater bodies, including undercut banks, pool and riffle sequences, cobbled or gravel substrates, woody debris and shaded riparian edges.

Conduct searches around dusk, early morning and at night because platypuses are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal.

Remain quiet and stationary where possible, and scan for a low bow wave, three humps above the water, a diving animal or surface activity around feeding areas.

Record the survey date, start and finish time, weather, water level, flow, visibility, survey length, observers and all detection locations.

Do not enter the water or disturb banks, burrows or nesting areas solely to improve detection.

Typical daily activity: Foraging commonly occupies about 8 to 16 hours per day, with activity concentrated during twilight and darkness.

Foraging dive duration: About 30 to 140 seconds in the wild.

Survey methodology: 2. Remote cameras and observation points

Use remote cameras or fixed video at likely entry and exit points, narrow channels, pools, culverts and bank margins where direct observation is difficult.

Place cameras so that they do not block access to the water, burrows or movement corridors, and do not require vegetation or bank disturbance.

Use repeated observations across suitable dusk, night and dawn periods because a single negative observation does not demonstrate absence.

Review footage for swimming, diving, feeding, bank entry, burrow use and repeated activity at the same location.

Survey methodology: 3. Environmental DNA and visual monitoring

Consider environmental DNA sampling where direct observation is difficult or where the project may fragment a catchment population.

Use visual surveys and environmental DNA together where practicable, because each method provides different information about presence and activity.

Document sampling points, water conditions, flow connectivity and any upstream or downstream barriers so that results can be interpreted at the catchment scale.

Treat a positive environmental DNA result as evidence that platypus use the waterway or connected system, and investigate the associated banks, refuges and movement routes before works.

Survey methodology: 4. Live trapping and handling surveys

Use live trapping only where it is necessary, approved and led by personnel experienced with platypuses and aquatic fauna.

Fyke nets may be used in small streams only when they are checked every 2 to 4 hours and provide unimpeded access to air.

Do not use capture methods that can cause drowning, entanglement or prolonged restraint, and do not deploy nets where flow, depth, debris or weather make regular checking unsafe.

Plan trapping around water depth, flow, season, target species and non-target fauna, because capture rates vary with age, sex, season and learned avoidance.

Handle captured animals for the shortest time practicable, keep them cool and hydrated, and release them at the capture location unless an authorised wildlife veterinarian or relevant authority directs otherwise.

Take particular care with adult males because the hind-leg spurs can deliver painful venom, especially during the breeding season.

Fyke net checking interval: Every 2 to 4 hours, where this method is approved and safe.

Breeding period in Victoria: Generally August to the end of November.

Survey methodology: Minimum effort and reporting

  • Prepare a site-specific survey design that covers all permanent or seasonally connected freshwater habitat, suitable banks, downstream and upstream movement routes, and any wetland or dam that may connect to a watercourse.
  • Use more than one survey method where habitat is suitable but direct detection is poor, and explain the rationale for the timing, locations, duration and method selection.
  • Record negative results as well as detections, including the conditions and effort that produced each result.
  • Map all records, burrows, bank refuges, likely foraging areas, barriers, culverts, nets, litter hazards and connected habitat.
  • Submit verified records to the relevant state wildlife database and provide project records to the relevant land manager, authority or species database where requested.
  • Report any injured, dead or entangled platypus to the relevant state wildlife authority and follow the approved fauna incident procedure.

Before habitat disturbance: Avoid and minimise habitat loss

Avoiding disturbance to occupied freshwater habitat is the first control. Platypuses rely on reliable surface water, stable banks, riparian vegetation, benthic substrate and connected river systems, and local populations can be isolated by barriers or loss of flow.

  • Retain permanent water, pool and riffle sequences, undercut and consolidated banks, overhanging riparian vegetation, woody debris, cobbled or gravel substrate and bank vegetation that supports burrows and aquatic prey.
  • Keep works, stockpiles, access tracks, sediment controls and lighting out of the waterway and away from banks wherever practicable.
  • Maintain movement along the watercourse and avoid new barriers such as poorly designed culverts, vertical drops, disconnected pools and blocked under-road crossings.
  • Prevent changes to natural flow, water temperature, bank stability, water quality and the availability of benthic invertebrates.
  • Retain connected upstream and downstream habitat rather than leaving isolated pools or short sections of retained bank.

Before habitat disturbance: Approvals and project planning

  • Check the current Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 status before works, noting that the supplied national review describes the species as not nationally listed and that current state requirements may differ.
  • Check the current state wildlife, threatened species, animal welfare and wildlife rehabilitation requirements for the project location before surveying, trapping, handling, relocating or disturbing habitat.
  • Confirm whether the project requires a state permit, scientific authority, take approval, wildlife management approval or referral before disturbance begins.
  • Prepare a fauna management plan that identifies survey results, habitat to be retained, exclusion areas, work staging, water quality controls, incident contacts, stop-work triggers and post-work monitoring.
  • Schedule bank and in-stream works to avoid the local breeding and nesting period where practicable, particularly August to November in Victoria, and obtain species-specific advice where timing cannot be avoided.
  • Stage works so that retained freshwater habitat remains connected and occupied animals have an undisturbed route to nearby retained habitat.

Before habitat disturbance: Pre-clearance preparation

  • Complete a pre-clearance inspection of the full work area and connected waterway before machinery enters.
  • Mark occupied or potentially occupied burrows, undercut banks, nest areas, water margins, movement routes and habitat to be retained on construction plans and on the ground.
  • Install clearly visible exclusion fencing around retained banks, water, riparian vegetation and other no-go areas where fencing will not block platypus movement.
  • Keep fencing, silt controls and temporary crossings outside the water and bank edge wherever practicable, and inspect them daily for entanglement or blockage risks.
  • Brief all workers that platypuses may be active at night, use burrows in stream banks and can be injured by nets, traps, litter, machinery, bank collapse and water pollution.
  • Ensure an experienced fauna spotter catcher, a wildlife veterinarian contact and a permitted wildlife carer contact are available before works begin.

During habitat disturbance: Daily controls and machinery interface

Construction controls must prevent direct injury, entrapment, bank collapse, water pollution and loss of access to retained habitat. The fauna spotter catcher must be able to stop work and must work directly with the site supervisor and machinery operators.

  • Inspect the work area, waterway, bank, exclusion fencing, temporary crossings, trenches, pipes, pits, nets and stockpiles before work starts each day.
  • Use a fauna spotter catcher during clearing, bank excavation, in-stream works, dewatering, culvert removal and any activity that can affect a burrow, waterbody or bank.
  • Require the spotter catcher to remain in direct communication with machinery operators and to have an unobstructed view of the active work face.
  • Stop machinery immediately when the spotter catcher identifies a platypus, a possible burrow, bank collapse, trapped fauna, a blocked movement route or an unexpected change in water flow.
  • Keep machinery, fuels, concrete washout, sediment, spoil and contaminated water away from the waterway, and prevent spills or turbid discharges from entering platypus habitat.
  • Cover or barricade pits, trenches, pipes and other cavities at the end of each work period, and inspect them before work resumes.

During habitat disturbance: Burrows, banks and aquatic habitat

  • Do not collapse, fill, excavate or seal a suspected platypus burrow until the fauna spotter catcher and relevant authority have assessed it.
  • Do not remove stable undercut banks, root structures, large woody debris, cobbles or gravel substrate unless the approved design and fauna management plan require it.
  • Keep water flowing through retained habitat during dewatering, diversion and culvert works, and avoid leaving isolated or rapidly drying pools.
  • Use gradual, controlled dewatering and inspect any isolated pool, pump intake, screen or bypass for trapped fauna.
  • Keep temporary fencing, sediment barriers and materials out of the water and away from bank entrances, and remove them promptly when no longer required.
  • Prevent access to fish or yabby nets, wire, plastic, cable, fencing and other materials that can entangle or drown platypuses.

During habitat disturbance: If a platypus is found

  • Stop the activity that may affect the animal and establish a quiet exclusion area around it.
  • Do not chase, corner, feed, capture or move the animal unless handling is authorised and necessary to prevent immediate harm.
  • Keep people, dogs, vehicles, lights and machinery away from the water and bank while the animal leaves of its own accord.
  • Use only a suitably authorised and experienced person for capture or relocation, and follow the approved state procedure and wildlife veterinarian advice.
  • If relocation is authorised, release the animal into nearby retained habitat connected to the capture waterway, unless the relevant authority directs another location.
  • Treat adult males as a handling risk because their hind-leg spurs can cause severe and prolonged pain.
  • Place injured or weak animals in the care of a wildlife veterinarian or authorised wildlife carer as soon as practicable, and notify the relevant authority.
  • Record the location, time, activity, animal condition, sex if known, action taken, people involved and release or treatment outcome.

During habitat disturbance: Stop-work triggers and records

  • Stop work if a platypus is found within the work area, in a dewatered section, inside a trench or pipe, or at immediate risk from machinery.
  • Stop work if a burrow, nesting chamber, occupied bank refuge or previously unmapped movement route is exposed.
  • Stop work if sediment, concrete, fuel, chemicals, sewage or other contaminated water enters or threatens the waterway.
  • Stop work if a temporary barrier blocks movement between connected water, retained habitat or a bank refuge.
  • Stop work after an injury, death, drowning, entanglement or unauthorised handling event until the fauna management plan and controls have been reviewed.
  • Maintain daily records of inspections, weather, water level, turbidity incidents, fauna observations, exclusions, captures, relocations, injuries, deaths and corrective actions.

After habitat disturbance: Post-clearance and reinstatement checks

Controls remain necessary after the active works finish because platypuses may avoid disturbed banks, lose access to burrows and respond slowly to altered flow or water quality. Post-work checks should test whether retained habitat remains usable and connected.

  • Inspect the completed work area and all retained banks, pools, crossings, culverts, pipes and temporary access routes before demobilisation.
  • Check that no animal is trapped in pits, pipes, culverts, isolated pools, sediment basins or temporary fencing.
  • Remove unused fencing, nets, wire, cable, plastic, spoil, rubbish and other entanglement hazards from the waterway and bank.
  • Confirm that banks are stable, burrow entrances are not blocked, riparian cover is retained or replanted, and water can move through the site.
  • Check that culverts, crossings and outlet structures do not create vertical barriers, excessive velocity, dry gaps or blocked movement routes.

After habitat disturbance: Monitoring and reporting

  • Repeat the approved visual, camera, environmental DNA or other monitoring method used before works so that results can be compared.
  • Monitor at suitable dusk, night and dawn periods and include the same waterway reaches, banks and movement points where practicable.
  • Inspect water quality, flow, bank stability, riparian cover, aquatic substrate, woody debris and evidence of burrow use after major rainfall, flooding, dewatering or bank works.
  • Report confirmed records, injuries, deaths, incidents, monitoring results and any failure of habitat controls to the project environmental officer and relevant authority.
  • Submit verified post-work records to the relevant state wildlife database and update the project fauna register.
  • Review monitoring results against approval conditions and the fauna management plan, and implement corrective works where habitat has become disconnected, unstable, polluted or unsafe.

After habitat disturbance: Ongoing controls and offsets

  • Maintain erosion, sediment, spill, weed and access controls until banks, water quality and vegetation are stable.
  • Maintain any required exclusion fencing, fauna crossings, flow controls, nest boxes or other agreed measures for the period specified in the approval or management plan.
  • Apply an approved offset or environmental compensation measure where residual impacts remain and the relevant approval requires it.
  • Link any offset or compensation work to protection and improvement of freshwater habitat, riparian banks, flow connectivity and platypus movement routes.

Rehabilitation actions: Waterways, banks and vegetation

Rehabilitation should restore a connected freshwater system rather than only revegetating the construction footprint. Platypus habitat requires reliable water, stable earth banks, riparian cover, suitable benthic substrate, refuges and abundant aquatic invertebrate prey.

  • Re-establish reliable surface water and natural or suitable flow patterns without creating barriers, isolated pools or abrupt drops.
  • Stabilise banks with natural materials and locally appropriate native riparian vegetation, while retaining undercut sections and bank structure where they are safe and suitable.
  • Plant native vegetation that shades the water, protects banks, supplies roots and cover, and supports aquatic invertebrates.
  • Restore pool and riffle structure, cobbled or gravel substrate, large woody debris, logs, roots and low bank vegetation where these features were removed.
  • Use staged bank treatment so that the entire reach is not left without refuge or cover at the same time.
  • Control weeds without allowing herbicide, sediment or other contaminants to enter the waterway.

Rehabilitation actions: Refuges, crossings and artificial structures

  • Retain natural burrow banks and avoid placing hard structures across bank entrances or likely nesting areas.
  • Use artificial refuges or nest boxes only where they are supported by the approved rehabilitation design and advice from platypus specialists.
  • Reinstate logs, roots, rocks and other natural cover in a stable manner that cannot roll, trap or injure animals.
  • Design crossings and culverts to maintain continuous access between upstream and downstream habitat, with no dry gaps or abrupt barriers.
  • Remove temporary barriers and reinstate the natural bank and channel profile as soon as construction allows.

Rehabilitation actions: Threat reduction and success measures

  • Control foxes, dogs and cats where the approved management plan identifies predation as a project risk.
  • Remove litter, fishing gear, yabby nets, wire, plastic and other entanglement hazards during maintenance inspections.
  • Protect restored banks and riparian vegetation from grazing, vehicle access, repeated trampling and uncontrolled fire.
  • Use post-rehabilitation surveys, cameras, environmental DNA or approved visual monitoring to assess platypus presence and activity.
  • Measure success by stable banks, persistent water and flow connectivity, functioning crossings, recovering riparian cover, suitable benthic substrate, reduced entanglement hazards and confirmed platypus use where the species was present before works.
  • Continue monitoring through more than one season where required by the approval, and investigate any continued absence, injured animal, bank failure, drying event or loss of aquatic prey habitat.

Sources