Australia’s Platypus - Reading Test Answers

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Upon being discovered in Australia in the 1700s, sketches of this unusual creature were made and sent back to England whereupon they were considered by experts to be a hoax.

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During the breeding season, the amount of venom in the male platypus increases.

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Platypus are wild animals with specialised living requirements. It is illegal for members of the public to keep them in captivity.

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moveable spur on its hind foot which delivers a poison capable of killing smaller animals and causing severe pain to humans.

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In the same area of the hind foot where the male has the poisonous spur, the female platypus only develops two buds which drop off in their first year of life never to appear again.

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The mother is believed to keep the eggs warm by placing them between her lower belly and curled-up tail for a period of about 10 or 11 days as she rests in an underground nest made of leaves or other vegetation collected from the water.

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The baby platypus drinks a rich milk which is secreted from two round patches of skin midway along the mother’s bell)’

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In Australia, the platypus is officially classified as ‘Common but Vulnerable’. As a species, it is not currently considered to be endangered.

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However, platypus populations are believed to have declined or disappeared in many catchments 1, particularly in urban and agricultural landscapes.

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Based on recent studies, the average platypus population density along relatively good quality streams in the foothills of Victoria’s Great Dividing Range is only around one to two animals per kilometre of channel. Because platypus are predators near the top of the food chain and require large amounts of food to survive (up to about 30% of a given animal’s body weight each day), it is believed that their numbers are most often limited by the availability of food,

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Only a small number of Australian zoos and universities hold a permit to maintain platypus in captivity for legitimate display or research purposes.