Biologists have shared their amazement at a platypus found in a recapture study which revealed the specimen to be 24-years-old –far older than what experts previously assumed to be limit of the species’ lifespan. (BUT, still young enough to date Leonardo DiCaprio.)
The specimen found was a 24-year-old male who was found and captured in the Melbourne area, breaking the record for the oldest platypus ever found in the wild.
The reason the biologists conducting the tag-and-release study were able to determine the old age of the platypus, was because it had already been caught and documented to be about one-year-old wayyyy back in 2000.
The platypus was recaptured around September last year, where biologists were astonished to discover the age of the wild platypus.
Melbourne Water has supported this surveying of the platypus population since 1994, and so the recapture of an individual is unsurprising. However the age of the individual was record breaking, and gives biologists further data to use on understand the species’ lifespan.
Prior to this discovery the oldest ever platypus found in the wild was a 21-year-old female found in New South Wales, which exceeded the estimated platypus lifespan by about a year.
Due to predators and factors such as human interference, it has been difficult for scientists to get an accurate estimation of just how old a platypus can live to.
The oldest ever platypus is one that lives in captivity, a female platypus named Fleay. Last October Fleay turned 30-years-old, and she has been the world’s oldest platypus ever since her mid-20s.
However given her decreasing eyesight and hearing ability, it is suspected that the 24-year-old male recently found would be in the upper end of a wild platypus’ lifespan.
Considering it’s a 24-year-old male living in Melbourne, it’s a wonder the platypus wasn’t found pretending to enjoy craft beer at Mountain Goat Brewery, repeating the jokes from an Aunty Donna sketch to it’s friends.
