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Platypus
Ornithorhynchus anatinus
A platypus cruising the surface |
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Platypus are extraordinarily shy creatures and will vanish at the slightest hint of our presence so the pictures here are all taken from a distance.
Here you can see one swimming across the surface, heading towards its burrow. |
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We mostly see these creatures when they are out feeding. This generally takes the form of 45 seconds scrabbling on the bottom of the dam to get a mouthful of food. |
| Alfresco dining |
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Being air-breathers they must come to the surface to ingest their catch.
This is a typical view of a platypus - it takes around 10 seconds for the eating and then its another trip to the bottom.
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Here you can see the start of the return journey - it is tempting to call it a duck-dive but that would only fit the bill.
It really is a platypus dive or a platypus diving - whichever you prefer it is a very graceful thing which hardly disturbs the surface.
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A Platypus dive |
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This is about as close as we've been able to get - photographically - this is quite a large platypus - compared to anything I've seen in captivity but it is not really possible to measure them with a ruler. |
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Yet another picture - a platypus inspecting the camera.
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the front-view |
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| A Platypus crash-dive |
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Just like in the WWII submarine movies - a swallow skiming over the lake appears to have alarmed one of the platypus into a crash dive.
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To learn more about this remarkable creature - visit
Australian Platypus Conservancy website
The State of Queensland (Environmental Protection Agency) Parks and Wildlife Service page on platypus
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Continue your exploration of wildlife at Middle Path......
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| With feathers:-
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| With fur:-
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With scales:-
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| With none of the above:-
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| With us:-
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