Voting for the Top 7 has now closed! We’ll be back in 2 hours to announce the Top 6 and to open voting again.
We’re sorry to say goodbye to the extraordinary platypus, which wasn’t able to swim its way to the top of the Mammal of the Year leaderboard. This marvelous monotreme, with a bill that detects electric current and venomous spurs in its legs, will be missed.
Now you’ve got just 22 hours to vote for your favourite in the Top 7, after which we’ll remove the lowest-rated mammal, clear the tallies and start again with the Top 6 at the same time tomorrow. Get behind our mammals and give them a shoutout to your friends to ensure they make it into the next rounds.
After the tally closes each day we’ll scrutineer the votes and block any spamming IPs so that, like last year, passionate supporters can’t guaranteed their mammal’s place with any anomalous voting.
A round of applause for the platypus!
Name: Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
Size: Approximately 30-40cm long, weigh up to 3kg.
Diet: Carnivore – aquatic invertebrates.
Habitat: Freshwater creeks, rivers and streams across eastern and southern Australia.
Superpower: Male platypuses are venomous – one of a few venomous mammals in existence.
No argument: the platypus is one of the most extraordinary animals on the planet.
Famous for their quirky, unusual appearance, they were originally thought to be a hoax combination of different animals when specimens were first seen by English naturalists. Cryptic and elusive, they are often called shy, but that’s mostly because they are well camouflaged within their environment and spend most of their lives underwater or in their burrows.
Breeding season starts around September each year, but before this, the males need to find a territory with resident females. While the platypus may look very cute, they also have a dark side: males have sharp spurs on their hind feet that are connected to a venom gland in their leg. They use these spurs as weapons to fight other males as they contest breeding rights.
Males and females conduct a beguiling courtship ritual prior to mating as they assess each other’s suitability. First the male will grab the tail of the female in his bill, while she swims around in a series of loops and twists through the water. If things are going swimmingly, the female will then twist around and clasp her bill on the male’s tail, so they complete a romantic loop tracing circles underwater.
After mating, the female constructs a nest by carrying leaves and grasses in her tail, which she takes underground into a special nesting burrow where she will lay her eggs – and here’s where our Mammal of the Year title really should be a no-contest. A mammal that lays eggs? This is the preposterous platypus, remember – a monotreme, sharing this astonishing ability only with the various echidna species. She will normally lay one or two soft-shelled eggs, similar to reptile eggs, and incubate them for about 10 days. When the puggles (not kidding) hatch, they are the size of a jellybean and fur-less. They live underground for the next four months, suckling from their mum – but the milk is secreted a bit differently to other mammals. Platypus don’t have teats, so milk drips out of patches on mum’s belly, which the puggles lap up.
At four months of age, the young are almost fully grown, about 80% the size of their parent. This is when they are weaned from milk and leave the nesting burrow for the first time. No swimming lessons from parents are required – foraging and underwater acrobatics all comes naturally.
The platypus is a carnivorous generalist feeder in the water, eating a variety of aquatic invertebrates such as caddisfly and dragonfly nymphs, shrimp, mussels, worms, midge larvae and crayfish. They locate their prey by using specialised receptors on their bills. Electroreceptors can detect both AC and DC current, while the mechano-receptors detect vibrations, water pressure and movement. The information from these receptors allows the platypus to navigate under the water and also to locate and capture their prey.
In no particular order, here are our Top 7!
Mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus)
The mountain pygmy possum scaled to second position in “Snow Patrol: Alpine Adventurers”, but still managed to receive enough votes overall to secure its spot in the Top 10. Did you know they hibernate for 5-7 months every year under the snow, during which they lose half of their body weight.
Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus)
Having placed second in “Under the Sea: Marine Marvels”, unlike last year, the Australian fur seal collected enough votes overall to make it to the Top 10. They are the largest of all fur seals in the world, with females weighing 78kg and males 220-360kg.
Dugong (Dugong dugon)
The dugong took out 28.7% of votes in “Under the Sea: Marine Marvels” to make it to the Top 10. They are the only herbivorous mammal that spends all their life in the sea.
Gilbert’s Potoroo (Potorous gilbertii)
The Gilbert’s Potoroo secured 56.5% of support in in “Woodland Wanderers”. After missing from the records for 120 years and thought extinct, they came “back from the dead” when rediscovered in 1994.
Golden-tipped bat (Phoniscus papuensis)
The golden-tipped bat made a glittering impression on voters with 46.1% of the votes in “The Cool South: Forest Fossickers”. They roost in the bottom of suspended bird nests, excising a chamber below the nest where they happily freeload.
Dingo (Canis dingo or Canis familiaris)
Our charismatic but controversial canid made it to the Top 10 with 32.6% of the vote in “Snow Patrol: Alpine Adventurers”.
Spectacled flying-fox (Pteropus conspicillatus conspicillatus)
With 27.3% of the support in its category to make it to the Top 10, the spectacled flying-fox is the ultimate “Rainforest Rambler”. They can fly 112 km and spread 60,000 seeds in a single night while foraging for food.
How does voting work?
“But how does voting work?” you may ask. Don’t worry, it’s super simple.
Voting has now opened for the Top 7 and will remain open until 10am AEST tomorrow, Friday 18 August.
Then, at 12pm AEST we’ll announce the mammal that has received the least votes and has been knocked out of the running.
We’ll set the tally back to zero and open up voting for the Top 6 anew. Voting will be open for 22 hours, until 10am AEST the following day. And repeat!
Each day we’ll whittle away at the list of our most marvellous mammals until the Top 3 left standing are announced, and voting opens once more, at 12pm AEST Monday 21 August.
Then, we’ll finally put the debate to rest for 2023 and crown Australia’s Mammal of the Year on Thursday 24 August!