National Geographic: Australias Animal Mysteries Page #5

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they adjusted well to captivity

and became unusually tame.

Not long after mating had been observed,

Jill stopped eating and disappeared

into her nesting burrow.

Fleay suspected she must be

ready to lay eggs.

It was roughly eight weeks

before we thought,

as the information was at that time,

that at eight weeks the baby

should be able to crawl about and swim.

So we took the risk of

opening up the tunnel

at this point, and having looked.

I felt that somehow that we were

doing the wrong thing.

And as it proved,

it was the wrong thing.

We found that she

had one solitary young.

Nice and fat and in good order,

but it was blind and helpless and

obviously couldn't either swim or walk.

We'd opened that up much too soon.

We left things alone and just watched

carefully from that point on.

And then, at a further rate,

about 16 weeks altogether,

we opened the back of the tunnel again

and found that the baby

was alive and well.

It was a tremendous relief.

Well, it was relayed

round the world and it was announced

in New York and London.

The platypus, of course,

is a fabulous animal.

It's always attracted a lot of attention.

It was considered impossible round

about the 1930s

for one to live in captivity for

more than a few days.

After all the years of effort,

it was a tremendous thrill.

We put the flag up that day.

Four decades later not even Fleay has

managed to breed the platypus again.

With his assistants

from the university of Queensland,

Dr. Frank Carrick works after

dusk and at dawn

when the platypus is most active.

He has been studying the animal's

ecology since 1972.

At least with the water

being high like this,

there are fewer snags...

An unweighted fishing net has been

laid parallel to the riverbank.

The scientists check the net at

regular interval

guided by a light from shore.

Although the net is designed

so the animal can surface and breathe,

there is always the

danger of entanglement.

Gary, I think there might be an

animal in the net

a bit further from us there.

Would you like to just put

the sop on it?

Excellent.

Yeah, he's gone under a bit.

Go out and get him out.

Okay, just ease it up here, Jim.

Here he is, you little beauty.

Get him out.

Into the boat you go.

It's male, too.

His spurs.

Because the male platypus has

venomous spurs on his hind legs,

he must be handled with extreme care.

Although it's not certain,

scientists speculate the spurs are

used against other males

in competition for females at mating time.

You got the box alright.

Put him in. in you go, chief.

Bless you.

Now, in you go.

That's a boy.

That's got him.

There, check him.

Let's have a look at him.

Good boy.

Once the animal is lightly sedated,

Dr. Carrick can safely

begin his examination.

Although the platypus

has existed for millions of years,

significant information on its ecology

has been gathered only

within the last decade.

And so even the most basic data

on weights

and measurements are invaluable.

I think, really, the platypus is

one of the most crucial animals

of all the Australian animals

that we need to know much more about.

Both for the interest of seeing

how patterns in the modern mammals

evolved and also

of course, in helping us

in a rational way

to ensure the platypus does

continue on into future

as it has done for many millions of years.

It always happens, doesn't it.

It's Well, starting to rain.

Thanks, Jim.

Alright ol' mate, you'll never notice it.

Levels of hormones in the blood

help the scientists determine

when and how often the male platypus

is sexually active.

In any wildlife study,

many of the important findings

come from animals that

have been captured before

and then followed over time.

Because platypuses,

for the most part, remain in a

relatively small home range,

Carrick hopes to entrap

this animal again,

a metal band identifying him

as Number 89.

A bit of jewelry.

Now, marked and identified by his captors,

Number 89 is ready to be set free

to return to his burrows, his secret ways.

We going down with you?

No. I'll put him in.

no sense everyone getting wet.

With the surge of scientific research

in Australia over the past two decades

a fascinating tableau of life

has unfolded.

Unlike bewildered early explorers

who saw only a topsy-turvy world

of improbable-looking animals,

scientists of today

understand how isolation

and geography helped shape the

evolution of Australia's wildlife.

But the puzzle is far from complete.

And so it remains.

Haunting questions of an ancient past

echo still across this remote,

exotic land.

Perhaps someday, one small animal

with its tiny metal band

may help unlock some of

the long-hidden secrets of Australia,

a land that time forgot.

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