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Wildlife : Insects (creepy crawlies)

Platypus
Ornithorhynchus anatinus





A platypus cruising the surface

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.



Another surface journey

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

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.



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.

A Platypus dive



A closer look

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.



Yet another picture - a platypus inspecting the camera.

the front-view



A Platypus crash-dive

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.



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

Continue your exploration of wildlife at Middle Path......
With feathers:-    
With fur:- With scales:-
With none of the above:-
With us:-

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This document (www.middlepath.com.au/about/wildlife_platypus.php) was last updated on Monday June 16th 2008  ||  email


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