![]() The monotremes are a mixture of primitive and advanced traits, a situation known as mosaic evolution. The monotremes share them with all other mammals. The long period as dependent young, the provision of milk, and the way the young learn through play, are all advanced features. After four months they no longer need their mother's milk. At six weeks the babies have fur and are able to leave the burrow for short trips. The young platypus drinks the milk from the mother's skin while she lies on her back. The platypus does not have nipples, but milk comes through small openings in the skin. The mother makes milk for the new babies. When the babies come out of the eggs after about ten days, they hold on to the mother. At the end of the tunnel, she builds a nest out of reeds for her eggs. ![]() She blocks the tunnel with earth at several places. When a female platypus is pregnant, the female makes much larger holes, up to 20 m (66 ft) long. It makes these holes in the river bank a little above the water. These holes are between 3 m (10 ft) and 8 m (26 ft) long. When on land, the platypus lives in burrows on the river banks. You can park near the campground and start the walk from there.Platypus' nest with eggs replica at MUSE - Science Museum in Trento Getting there: Lake Elizabeth is an hour from Lorne (one of the nearest towns) and over 2 hours from Melbourne. The Otways is an incredible area for wildlife watching and we detail lots more opportunities in this post. We visited at dusk but I would recommend dawn if you can stomach an early start as we heard sightings are more frequent then and platypus prefer cool weather. It's worth noting that the loop does not hug the lake the whole way, it goes into dense bush at points which means you don't have the ability to be constantly on the lookout for platypus, which is why we chose to sit and wait quietly at the jetty. ![]() When you get there you can wait at the jetty or take the lake loop walk which is just under 5km in total. To reach the lake you need to take a 1km walking path (each way) which has one short steep section (despite the sign at the trail head making you think it will be much harder!). The drive to get here from Thredbo or Jindabyne is absolutely stunning through vast open plains dotted with huge rocks and boulders.ĭespite not getting as good a look at the platypus as we'd have liked it's still a magical spot and we were surrounded by wild koalas growling for over an hour which was a pretty special experience in its own right. Getting there: You’ll definitely need your own wheels for this one and the setting is quite remote. Unfortunately for us we were unlucky with actually catching sight of a platypus itself but I read so many reviews of people seeing them here that I still wanted to include it in this blog. There's a large viewing platform over the river and it was easy to spot the platypus burrows. The reserve is a beautiful place on the water and it would be a peaceful place to bring a picnic as you wait. ![]() It's actually quite far from the main areas most people stay when visiting the Snowy's (1 hour 50 from Thredbo and 1 hour 25 from Jindabyne) so it's a quiet spot and on our visit we were the only ones there! Bombala Platypus Reserve in the Snowy Mountains is known as one of the best spots in NSW to catch a glimpse of one of these elusive creatures.
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