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Paddleboarding pups protect platypus [1]
['Gail Sherman']
Date: 2025-08-11
The platypus is an iconic, unique, and threatened species. They have rubbery duck bills, webbed feet, venomous spurs on their hind legs, tails like beavers, and lay eggs, despite being mammals. Human activity is destroying their habitat, but they are nocturnal and notoriously hard to find, making it hard to protect them.
Zoo Victoria has a Wildlife Detection Dog Squad that has helped sniff out and protect other vulnerable species. The platypus is semi-aquatic, living in rivers and creeks and making their burrows along the water's edge. While in some areas the water is low enough for the dogs to walk through to search for platypus burrows, deep water presented a new hurdle. The squad found a solution: dogs on paddleboards.
According to Australian Geographic, a "Fit to Work" training regimen from the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Vet Working Dog Center helped Kip and Moss develop the balance and core strength required to work from atop the paddleboards. As the dogs can't steer the boards, at least not yet, the have to learn to read the dogs' intentions. The work of the squad, coupled with the newly opened $1 million Platypus Conservation Centre, is crucial for the survival of this vulnerable species.
Bonus: Check out Australian Geographic's Australia's sleepiest species. They are ridiculously cute.
Previously:
• Please enjoy this cute platypus video
• Platypuses sweat milk, use electricity to see underwater, and are composed 100% of wtf
• Watch this adorable puggle swim and frolic at Taronga Wildlife Hospital
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