63 and free

Driving from Launceston to Burnie yesterday brought two places onto our agenda: the Platypus House and Seahorse World! YOU would have changed course too!

The Platypus is truly an odd looking creature, looking like something Disney stitched together from bits and pieces of other critters! But it is totally adorable.

We learned a few new things: firstly, the male has two poisonous spurs hidden in its back legs, and secondly, they swim using only their front legs!

While the venom won’t kill a human, it is apparently horrifically painful to the affected area, there is no known antidote and it can take 3 weeks to 6 months to recover! In some cases the affected area never does fully recover.

Males are also very territorial, and can fight to the death to keep their area (and ~20 females) for himself!

But…seriously CUTE!! 😍

The other Monotreme resident in the Platypus House is the Echidna. They are spiky little critters that waddle along on four webbed feet…with their back ones pointed backwards! Very odd but cute little balls.

They are also very tame, and quite inquisitive! One strolled past me (most of us were sitting on the floor) brushing up against my leg. He felt very solid!

Who isn’t fascinated by the Seahorse??

When we arrived in Burnie, we found out that there is a resident colony of blue penguins! Same as in Oamaru, New Zealand (see our blog post re Steampunk funk).

This time we were allowed to take pictures (no flashes). They cannot see the colour red, so the ‘Penguin Guides’ all use dull red flashlights. The little fellas don’t react at all to people nearby.