The Platypus

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semiaquatic egg-laying mammal found in eastern Australia, including Tasmania.Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five surviving species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.

Photo: Matthew Higgins

It is one of the few species of venomous mammals with the male platypus having a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans.
The unusual appearance of an egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal surprised European naturalists when they first encountered it. The first scientists to examine a preserved platypus body in 1799 judged it a fake, made of several animals sewn together.

1799 Sketch

The platypus is a carnivore feeding on annelid worms, insect larvae, freshwater shrimp and freshwater yabby(crayfish) that it digs out of the riverbed with its snout or catches while swimming. It uses cheek-pouches to carry prey to the surface, where it is eaten.

Platypus spend an average of 12 hours daily looking for food.

Its habitat is rivers and their riparian zones for both a food supply and the banks where it can dig resting and nesting burrows.

Video: Matthew Higgins.
It is a notoriously shy animal and difficult to find. I think I have only seen one in the wild just a few times.

Until the early 20th century humans hunted it for its fur, but it is now protected. While the platypus is vulnerable to the effects of pollution and the destruction of its habitat, it is not under any immediate threat.

So it was nice to come across a video recently shot in the Bega River just a hundred or so kilometres to the south of us. 

It seems they are alive and well down that way.