Why? Because every day is platypus day.
In my last entry I mentioned the incredibly long burrow of the platypus. I remembered that in Ann Moyal's book there was a neat sketch of one by early explorer/ scientist George Bennett, a platypus pioneer of sorts. So here it is for your enjoyment:
This image can be found on p85 of Moyal's Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World (2001).
And give a loud round of applause for that amazing tunnel digger, Ornithorynchus anatinus!!
In my last entry I mentioned the incredibly long burrow of the platypus. I remembered that in Ann Moyal's book there was a neat sketch of one by early explorer/ scientist George Bennett, a platypus pioneer of sorts. So here it is for your enjoyment:
This image can be found on p85 of Moyal's Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World (2001).Moyal does not indicate when the sketch was done, but I would estimate sometime in the mid 1830's based on the other info on Bennett's trips to Australia. You can see here that the platypus burrow is sort of like that of a beaver, with the entrance underwater. Bennett has handily included a platypus swimming toward the entrance (it looks like a little lump in the water there). Then there is a little kind of entry room-- where the platypus would dry off and take it's boots off? Ha, no just kidding. By squeezing through the rest of the tunnel, though, the animal would get mostly dry by the time it reaches the end. The tunnel here looks pretty slim, but in reality it would be about the width of the little platy itself. At the end of this long tunnel is the nest area, where mom platy will lay her little eggs and hatch her babies. As I mentioned before, these tunnels are looooong-- Bennett apparently measured one at 16 M. That's approximately 58 feet for us Americans. The platypus itself is not very big, remember, like less than 2 feet long, so that is a nice roomy home!
Platypus of the Day!
Image from the Healesville Platypus Institute
Image from the Healesville Platypus InstituteMeet Koorina, the "mum" of the darling twins pictured in my last entry. She is shown here attempting a daring escape from an Australian scientist at her home, the Healesville Institute. She came to the Institute when she was only 4 months old to be a part of their breeding program, started in 1989. The twins were born in 1999. This picture was taken in 2004, and Koorina seems to be happy and healthy. Hopefully she remains as rambunctious today!
Have fun celebrating your "Platypus Wednesday"!
And give a loud round of applause for that amazing tunnel digger, Ornithorynchus anatinus!!
2 comments:
Tiny little remark: a football field is 300 feet long, or 100 yards. But we might think of it as still remarkable by saying it is about 40 times the adult's own body length. Would I like to claw my own way through 240 feet of soil?
Oh no! You caught me before I could change my technical error... Yes, a football field is in fact 100 YARDS long, as I would know if I knew anything about sports. I better edit that before my boyfriend sees it haha...
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