On Saturday 17th. of September, a group from PACA, together with other community members who are operating as citizen scientists, held an event seeking to locate and record the presence or absence of platypus across South Gippsland.
Prom Area Climate Action (PACA) is the local regional group of the Australian Conservation Foundation and as such is conducting the ACF “Platy-project” which extends across all areas of Australia where platypus have been known to exist.
The clear purpose is to establish areas where platypus are still present, areas where they have been lost and to identify habitat areas that could be restored.
It is a tragic reality that, because of the declining presence of the platypus through loss of habitat, the Victorian government was forced in February 2022 to declare the platypus an endangered species in Victoria.
This recent activity was one of our special focus events which we will hold periodically. However, you and your friends and family could join us on a constant basis.
The ACF (like many other groups) uses the wildlife app iNaturalist, that is free and readily available.
Please download it onto one of your devices and become a citizen scientist.
Link to the Citizen Science initiative of the ACF using the iNaturalist app.
The iNaturalist database that you as a citizen scientist could help to create, is not only used by the ACF, but by many other researchers.
Upload your findings of any species of plants, animals, fish, birds, reptiles etc. with location, and photo if possible, particularly if you think that what you have found is uncommon in that area.
Families and friends could share some special times together doing this as a regular pass-time.
PACA will continue to organise events to locate a single species, which, when we do, we will advertise and invite your attendance.
Pictured is a stretch of what is a perfect platypus stretch of water. It is hard to believe that twenty years ago, the right hand bank of the stream you see was an extremely degraded former farm that had only seven trees remaining on it. During that time, more than 60,000 trees have been planted.
It is very satisfying to report that platypus have returned to that section of the stream.
We would like everyone across South Gippsland to support us in the re-building of wildlife populations and habitats.
Do you know of places that could be restored?
Our email: promareaclimateaction@gmail.com
Here all the details you need to get involved in the Platy-project:
ACF Platypus Toolkit
Record a platypus sighting directly onto this map
Platyproject Photo Blog