they’re extremely awkward on land and
not exactly graceful in the water but
there’s something endearing about these
egg-laying mammals platypuses can only
be found in the rivers streams and lakes
along the east coast of Australia but
they range as far north as northern
Queensland all the way down to the
southern island of Tasmania
that’s quite a range for these little
creatures but there are gaps between
populations large tracts of land between
the rivers and lakes make it difficult
for the platypuses to migrate from one
area to another
researchers believe it’s possible that
isolated pockets of animals could have
evolved differently could even be
separate subspecies the interesting
things about Platypus are that as you
come up the coast from Tasmania they get
smaller as well as that the body size is
actually less in some of the northern
ones so the maximum weight for one in
this area is somewhere in the region of
a kilogram about two and a half pounds
whereas they’re around about three times
that weight in Tasmania Stefan kolomiets
from James Cook University is using
genetic material to determine gene flow
from one population to another he
examines the size and health the
populations as well what fascinates him
the most are the differences between the
northern and southern platypuses the
platypus is up here in north queensland
about the third the size of the ones
down south which is a pretty big size
difference it may be because of climate
but it may be because of actual
differences in the
species itself populations here are
isolated from the populations in the
south so we’re interested in looking at
the effect of the gaps in the range and
especially this far north and one of the
tools that we’re using to do that is
population genetics Stefan and his
colleague David Blair are working in
some of the oldest rainforests in the
world this is deer and Creek
it’s a tributary of the North Johnston
river catchment it’s one of the many
upland freshwater streams in North
Queensland and it’s abundant in
platypuses collecting genetic samples
from a platypus can be rather
challenging special nets are carefully
placed in the streams they’re not
weighted down so platypuses can swim up
to the surface once they’ve become
entangled to prevent drowning with the
nets in place the team waits until
nightfall when platypuses are more
active then it’s time to collect their
subjects
here’s something most people might not
be aware of the platypus should always
be held by its tail especially if it’s a
male they’re one of the few venomous
mammals with a spur on the hind foot
capable of injecting some rather potent
and painful venom so gripping the fatty
tail is best for the platypus and the
handler now it’s time to collect the
necessary data the platypus is weighed
200 and measured both the body 43 and
the sizeable bill 53 the scientists
extract samples of DNA the principal
samples that we’re collecting for that
is a small piece of skin from the toe
web on the edge of the foot that gives
us enough DNA when we take that back to
the laboratory to be able to do quite a
lot of genetic analysis in addition to
that we’re collecting a little bit of
toe skin to go to a laboratory and
Adelaide where researchers are making
cell cultures for further genetic work
they’re interested in chromosome studies
that interested in Studies on the rather
strange sex chromosomes that calipers
have well most mammals have an XY sex
determining system well the platypus has
gone rather a long way further than that
the platypus has five x chromosomes and
five Y chromosomes you can ask the
question why I can’t give you an answer
and once the platypus is microchipped
there we go it’s released back into the
water just let them go dolly we hope to
learn how much difference there is
between northern populations from
southern populations up here in the
North there are a few gaps where they
just do not occur and there are no
historical records of them ever
occurring in those areas and so we’re
looking at what kind of effect these
gaps have had on their genetic health
the actual species they might be very
different they might not be different it
depends on when the last platypus was
able to cross these gaps if the smaller
northern platypuses are found to be
genetically different from the southern
platypuses they may be recognized as a
newly identified subspecies making them
an even more unique version of one of
the most unique animals on the planet
sponsored by National Geographic mission
programs taking science and exploration
into the new millennium
not exactly graceful in the water but
there’s something endearing about these
egg-laying mammals platypuses can only
be found in the rivers streams and lakes
along the east coast of Australia but
they range as far north as northern
Queensland all the way down to the
southern island of Tasmania
that’s quite a range for these little
creatures but there are gaps between
populations large tracts of land between
the rivers and lakes make it difficult
for the platypuses to migrate from one
area to another
researchers believe it’s possible that
isolated pockets of animals could have
evolved differently could even be
separate subspecies the interesting
things about Platypus are that as you
come up the coast from Tasmania they get
smaller as well as that the body size is
actually less in some of the northern
ones so the maximum weight for one in
this area is somewhere in the region of
a kilogram about two and a half pounds
whereas they’re around about three times
that weight in Tasmania Stefan kolomiets
from James Cook University is using
genetic material to determine gene flow
from one population to another he
examines the size and health the
populations as well what fascinates him
the most are the differences between the
northern and southern platypuses the
platypus is up here in north queensland
about the third the size of the ones
down south which is a pretty big size
difference it may be because of climate
but it may be because of actual
differences in the
species itself populations here are
isolated from the populations in the
south so we’re interested in looking at
the effect of the gaps in the range and
especially this far north and one of the
tools that we’re using to do that is
population genetics Stefan and his
colleague David Blair are working in
some of the oldest rainforests in the
world this is deer and Creek
it’s a tributary of the North Johnston
river catchment it’s one of the many
upland freshwater streams in North
Queensland and it’s abundant in
platypuses collecting genetic samples
from a platypus can be rather
challenging special nets are carefully
placed in the streams they’re not
weighted down so platypuses can swim up
to the surface once they’ve become
entangled to prevent drowning with the
nets in place the team waits until
nightfall when platypuses are more
active then it’s time to collect their
subjects
here’s something most people might not
be aware of the platypus should always
be held by its tail especially if it’s a
male they’re one of the few venomous
mammals with a spur on the hind foot
capable of injecting some rather potent
and painful venom so gripping the fatty
tail is best for the platypus and the
handler now it’s time to collect the
necessary data the platypus is weighed
200 and measured both the body 43 and
the sizeable bill 53 the scientists
extract samples of DNA the principal
samples that we’re collecting for that
is a small piece of skin from the toe
web on the edge of the foot that gives
us enough DNA when we take that back to
the laboratory to be able to do quite a
lot of genetic analysis in addition to
that we’re collecting a little bit of
toe skin to go to a laboratory and
Adelaide where researchers are making
cell cultures for further genetic work
they’re interested in chromosome studies
that interested in Studies on the rather
strange sex chromosomes that calipers
have well most mammals have an XY sex
determining system well the platypus has
gone rather a long way further than that
the platypus has five x chromosomes and
five Y chromosomes you can ask the
question why I can’t give you an answer
and once the platypus is microchipped
there we go it’s released back into the
water just let them go dolly we hope to
learn how much difference there is
between northern populations from
southern populations up here in the
North there are a few gaps where they
just do not occur and there are no
historical records of them ever
occurring in those areas and so we’re
looking at what kind of effect these
gaps have had on their genetic health
the actual species they might be very
different they might not be different it
depends on when the last platypus was
able to cross these gaps if the smaller
northern platypuses are found to be
genetically different from the southern
platypuses they may be recognized as a
newly identified subspecies making them
an even more unique version of one of
the most unique animals on the planet
sponsored by National Geographic mission
programs taking science and exploration
into the new millennium
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