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Scientists suspect the creatures’ diets changed because of the arrival of a new competitor, the Australian water rat, or rakali, reports the Sydney Morning Herald’s Angus Dalton.—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 June 2024 The researchers think competition for food caused the disappearance of teeth in the platypus—the spread of the Australo-New Guinean water rat may have affected which prey platypuses hunted for.—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 7 June 2024 The water rats may have started feasting on harder animals like crayfish and mussels, which pushed monotremes toward softer foods like shrimp and worms.—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 June 2024 An Aboriginal dreamtime story about the platypus (one indigenous name for the animal is Dharragarra) explains its origin as the product of a courtship between a water rat and a duck.—Helen Sullivan, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2020
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