An egg-laying mammal
The platypus lays eggs, yet feeds its young on milk. Only echidnas do the same.
The billabong
Platypus
Ornithorhynchus anatinus
A sleek brown animal with a flat bill like a duck's, webbed feet and a tail like a beaver's.
- Size
- About 50cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rivers and pools of eastern Australia and Tasmania
Paddles after you, diving as it goes. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Platypus
Good to know
Six things about the platypus
A bill that feels electricity
It hunts with its eyes shut. Its bill picks up the tiny electric signals of shrimps and worms.
A venomous spur
The male has a sharp spur on each back ankle that can give a very painful sting.
Thought to be a fake
When the first skin reached Britain in 1799, scientists thought someone had sewn a duck's bill onto a mole.
It glows
Under ultraviolet light, platypus fur glows blue-green. Nobody knows why.
Cheek pouches
It stores its catch in its cheeks, then surfaces to chew. It has no teeth, only grinding pads.
The real thing
Photos of the platypus
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Sit quietly by a slow river at dawn or dusk and watch for a ring of ripples and a low, flat shape, which dives after a few seconds.
How to help
Platypuses drown in closed yabby traps and suffer when rivers are drained. Support river restoration, and take litter such as hair ties home.
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