PLATYPUS FROLICKING IN MALENY...

There has been mention in the media recently about dwindling numbers of platypus. Not sure that's true up here in Maleny as it seems there are more than ever. On Sunday, I saw five different animals on my walk. It's unusual not to see at least one and it's lovely when visitors finally get to see one in the wild. Platypus are sometimes hard to spot because of their colour and the fact that they're smaller than you might expect. Enjoy some of my recent videos and photographs...

This guy this morning was floating for quite some time which astounded me. So often they dive immediately. I believe it was actually eating. They save food in their cheek pockets and then consume it at once until they start again. You can see just before it dives there is a lot of unwanted food coming out of the bill.

One of my favourite photos, looks like it's wearing a headress as it powered through the weed.

That's an eel swimming below this animal and it was estimated to be at least 1.8m long. The platypus wasn't bothered by it.

They often swim with cormorants, as one stirs up the mud the other takes advantage and gets more food. They don't seem to annoy each other so it would appear to be more reciprocal.

This guy was just hanging around in the creek. Unbothered by people hanging over the railings talking and looking at it.  

I believe this one is a juvenile. It was very active and swam quite close to where we were watching.

Just love the patterns in the water when they swim through reflections. I like to think of it as Platypus Art.

One of the few photos I've managed with two animals in the one shot. They don't swim too closely together unless they're mating. That is, probably, also the only time really you'll know if you're looking at a male or female. The male will swim closely behind the female and then grab her tail in his bill for a while before they mate. The female will often have a little bald spot on her tail for that reason.

You can see a bald spot on this animal's tail so, probably, a female.

I was surprised to learn that they get ticks when I saw this one scratching away. I never thought ticks would survive under water but I guess the platypus do spend a lot of time in burrows or even on land.  I've seen photos of them climbing dam walls and lounging on rocks grooming.

I wondered what this one was doing and it wasn't till I got home I could see it was eating, chowing down hard on something like a yabby.

If you look closely at the back of this animal, there is a scar. That's believed to have been caused by some rubbish it swam into when young and whatever it was (maybe a hair tie or band) finally deteriorated and left that scar. We've recently seen evidence of another with a band around its neck. People are so thoughtless when it comes to littering. Death to litterers I say! Hopefully, when there is another survey it will be caught and the thing removed.

I have many hundreds of photos of them diving.  I'll have just focussed and they dive! Aaaargh. Luckily, they're around often enough for me to get the shot next time. It's also one reason I've started taking little videos.