Platypus 'sighting' in the Adelaide Hills sparks camera set-up to capture extinct species

Cameras are being placed in areas of the Sturt Gorge Recreation Park in the Adelaide foothills to try and confirm "anecdotal reports" of a wild platypus being sighted.

The semi-aquatic mammal was once found in the Adelaide Hills and Mount Lofty Ranges but has become extinct on mainland South Australia, largely due to introduced foxes.

If a sighting is confirmed, there are theories that the wild platypus could be an escapee or descendant of the Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary in Mylor — established by award-winning environmentalist John Wamsley but closed to the public by Zoos SA in 2013.

A State Environment Water and Natural Resources Department spokesperson said a camera had been placed downstream of the location on the Sturt River "but nothing had been revealed on the footage".

"We are now setting up two cameras upstream of the dam to see if it reveals any platypus activity," he said.

"It will be four to six weeks before we expect to have any result from this investigation."

A v-shaped wake 'heading towards me'

Greens MLC Mark Parnell spotted a "brown and furry animal" in a waterhole during February while jogging in bushland south of Adelaide.

"I saw a v-shaped wake heading towards me," he said.

"Clearly something was moving under the water and I originally thought it might be a duck, but it didn't have a head.

"There was nothing above the water, and then I thought it might be a water rat. I've seen plenty of them.

Mr Parnell said he became excited until he discovered that platypus were officially extinct in the wild in SA.

"Experts that I've since spoken to have told me that the most likely explanation is that I was wrong and saw something else," he said.

One explanation is that the animal could have been a musk duck, which is native to southern Australia.

"I've seen musk ducks before and know what they look like," Mr Parnell said.

"The water rat is probably the most common explanation, given that it's brown and furry, but certainly I've never seen a water rat with a duck bill.

"I can only go on what I saw and I'm pretty confident that's what it was [a platypus], but I'm also prepared to concede that I'm wrong. I hope that I'm not."

Further upstream at a park in Coromandel Valley a local SES member said he spotted one at dusk while doing exercises.

"There was this thing splashing in the water. I was standing there with another member.

He said it was in about 20 centimetres of water and, with high-powered torches, they could clearly see it was a platypus.

Wild platypus sighting plausible: SA Museum

SA Museum mammal senior researcher Doctor Catherine Kemper said it was quite plausible that a platypus had been sighted in Sturt Creek and, if so, it was "highly likely" to have escaped from Warrawong.

"Over my [more than 30-year] term at SA Museum I have had several reports of platypus but none has been confirmed.

"That is not to say they are extant in SA.

"The last confirmed record [of a specimen] was in 1975 from near Renmark."

She said it was believed platypus once inhabited the Onkaparinga and Torrens rivers.

No specimens existed in the SA Museum to prove it "but indirect evidence would suggest that they were here".

"Tom Grant — platypus expert and author of a book on the species — visited Adelaide to check out the evidence in the 1990s and concluded they did occur in the region," Dr Kemper said.

"It will be interesting to see if the animal survives so having a camera set up to detect it is a good idea."

Platypus thriving at Warrawong

Mr Wamsley said that while it was closed to the public and parts of Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary were sold off by those who bought it, the platypus he established in captivity were thriving and doing "extraordinarily well".

He said it was possible platypus had moved out of Warrawong although considered it unlikely they would have made it as far as the Sturt River location.

"These are not allowed to stay at Warrawong since it is already at capacity, so unless there is a space to be filled, the young leave the sanctuary and are soon eaten by foxes. They have a fairly strong smell and foxes are quite partial to them."

Mr Wamsley said platypus were the "ultimate escapologist".

They could fit through the mesh fence of the sanctuary while young, or adults could climb over it.

"Tom Grant, one of our great platypus experts, tells the story when he released one in his kitchen it climbed on top of the fridge."

Friends of Sturt Gorge president Amy Blaylock said there had been an increase in native flora as a result of invasive weed removal in the national park but could not comment on whether there had been an increase of native fauna.