Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs: the echidna and the platypus. And they are just as bizarre and wonderful as I imagined. I found this one on Australia's Magnetic Island while looking for koalas.
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These little quill pigs dig for grubs and lick up ants with their long anteater-like tongues.
I had no expectations of ever seeing an echidna, even though they are Australia's most widespread mammal. So finding this one was a fantastic surprise. I always wanted to see one! It's a mammal. That lays eggs! Are you high, Mother Nature?
I searched high and low for platypus for days across the Atherton Tablelands but failed. When the Daintree Rainforest proved to be a bit of a photographic and hiking dud, I headed back into the hills to give it another try. I finally found them at Allumbah Park in Yungaburra.
Duck-billed platypus are busy little animals, searching the mud flats and creek edges for food that they filter with that novel bill. They have webbed feet that give them mobility underwater. And like most aquatic animals, their eyes, ears and nose are at the top of their head.
This male platypus put on quite a show while foraging on the opposite side of the creek. When you see platypus in a creek, it's a good bet there are no crocodiles there.
A little female platypus doesn't mind getting muddy. They hunt for food with their eyes closed in the murky water, using electroreceptors in their duck bill to find shrimp and insect larvae.
Platypus have tails and webbed feet like a beaver's to propel them through the water. The males have venomous spurs that they use against predators or other males during breeding season. I saw four platypus on this creek, but I couldn't tell if they were territorial.
After looking for them for so long, I wanted to dance a jig when I finally saw my first platypus. They lived up to their weird and wonderful reputation as an extraordinary animal mash-up and made my photo expedition to Australia a success.
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