It has webbed feet, like a frog, a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and venom, like a snake. Oddest of all, it lays eggs, like a bird. It feeds with its eyes shut by electrolocation, unlike any other mammal, except for fellow monotremes (the 3 other species of egg-laying mammals.
Monotremes lay eggs. However, the egg is retained for some time within the mother, which actively provides the egg with nutrients. Monotremes also lactate, but have no defined nipples, excreting the milk from their mammary glands via openings in their skin. All species are long-lived, with low rates of reproduction and relatively prolonged parental care of infants.
The platypus continues to baffle and inspire the scientific community, since its discovery by Europeans over 200 years ago.
Award winning wildlife filmmaker, David Parer takes us down the east coast of Australia to the many serenely beautiful habitats of the platypus. This film is a gorgeous triumph of super-complicated nature cinematography.
