By Jack Colantuono, ABC Gippsland<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nCody Stylianou captured footage of an albino-looking pink platypus in September.
\nPhoto: ABC\/ Cody Stylianou\n<\/p>\n
A Melbourne man has stumbled upon a rare pink platypus in a remote river.
\nHe says this is not his first encounter with the unique animal, believing he spotted it several years ago when it was smaller.
\nWhat’s next?: The fisherman has kept the location a secret to protect the animal from public disturbance.<\/p>\n
When Melbourne fisherman Cody Stylianou made the long drive to a quiet river in the Australian state of Victoria’s east a few months ago, he expected a routine day of exploring.<\/p>\n
Instead, he found himself face to face with a rare sight – a pink platypus suspected of having albinism. Only a dozen such sightings have been confirmed in about 200 years.<\/p>\n
The unusual colouring first appeared as a pale shape drifting beneath the tannin-rich surface, moving differently to the fish that Stylianou had been tracking.<\/p>\n
“I was fishing early morning and thought I’d seen a huge trout moving under the water, but quickly realised it was the platypus as it was only a couple metres in front of me,” he said.<\/p>\n
When it surfaced, the animal’s features were unmistakable: light fur, a soft pink bill and pink feet, signs of a rare genetic quirk that interrupts normal pigmentation.<\/p>\n
Stylianou nicknamed the albino platypus “Pinky”.<\/p>\n
Research from experts say colour variations of this kind, whether caused by albinism or leucism, are exceptionally uncommon in platypuses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nCody Stylianou is keeping the location secret.
\nPhoto: ABC\/ Cody Stylianou\n<\/p>\n
Possible second encounter with Pinky<\/p>\n
For Stylianou, the moment carried a sense of familiarity.<\/p>\n
Several years earlier, in a similar area, he encountered a smaller platypus with the same distinctive pink colouring.<\/p>\n
He believed the animal he spotted in September was the same one, now older and considerably larger.<\/p>\n
“Though that first time I only got a glimpse before he left out of sight,” Stylianou said.<\/p>\n
“The recent time seeing him, he was happily feeding in front of me for 15 minutes or so, being that he was almost a yellow glow in the tannin-stained water.<\/p>\n
“I could track him quite well and get some good footage of the surface.”<\/p>\n
Location kept a secret<\/p>\n
To protect Pinky from being disturbed, Stylianou has chosen not to reveal the location, a remote stretch of river in East Gippsland that he enjoys visiting.<\/p>\n
The isolation has likely played a role in Pinky surviving unnoticed for so long, and the brief encounter has left Stylianou hopeful he may see him again on future travels.<\/p>\n
“I was pretty stoked to finally back up what I told people I saw a few years prior,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I knew he [Pinky] was super rare as again, when I’d seen it the first time, I quickly realised pictures of them with pink bills and feet didn’t exist.”<\/p>\n
The discovery adds an entry to scientific records and highlights just how little is known about colour variation in one of Australia’s most iconic species.<\/p>\n
‘Very solitary’ species, ecologist says<\/p>\n
EnviroDNA wildlife ecologist Josh Griffiths said spotting a regular platypus in the wild was already uncommon enough, so to encounter an albino-looking platypus made the sighting more extraordinary.<\/p>\n
“They’re just often difficult to see in the wild because they’re mostly active at night, so they don’t sort of hang out in large groups,” Griffiths said.<\/p>\n
“They’re very solitary creatures. So generally, they’re just difficult to see.<\/p>\n
“They’re still fairly widespread throughout.”<\/p>\n
Griffiths said albino animals did not survive long as their light appearance made them easy prey.<\/p>\n
But he said albino platypuses may live longer as they do not have any natural predators trying to hunt them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nEcologist Josh Griffiths says regular platypuses are difficult to spot, making an albino platypus sighting very rare.
\nPhoto: ABC\/ Brett Worthington\n<\/p>\n
“Because platypuses are in rivers, they’re usually the apex predator in these rivers [and] there’s nothing really that eats them. So they’re generally pretty safe in that regard,” he said.<\/p>\n
Griffiths said he believed it was most likely that Stylianou had spotted the same platypus on both occasions.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know how far apart those sightings were, but it means that this animal has survived for that period of time,” he said.<\/p>\n
“And it’s probably that platypus’ home range, and so it’s not moving too far out of that area.”<\/p>\n
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