Skip to main content

Feathers, Fur and Fins: Observing a platypus

Posted 
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
A platypus wades in water at edge of river
Feathers, Fur and Fins: Observing a platypus

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  F–2


Meet the platypus one of the world's most amazing creatures.

Listen as Don Spencer describes the features of a platypus.

Watch a platypus clean itself and then swim under water to search for food.

See what type of animal the platypus catches and feeds on by the water's edge.


Things to think about

  1. 1.The platypus has body parts that make it very different from other animals. What are these parts? What does a platypus look like?
  2. 2.Look at how the platypus searches for food. Which two body parts does it use to search among the rocks? The platypus has four feet. Look at what it has between its toes to help it swim.
  3. 3.How is the platypus a 'mix' of different animals? Find a picture of a platypus. Circle the parts that are like another animal. You could look at a duck, a freshwater turtle and a beaver. Write a few sentences about how the platypus is like a mix of other animals. For example, you could say, 'It has a bill like a _____.'
  4. 4.Pretend you are a platypus. How do you search for food? How do you move in the water and on land? Where do you hide during the day?



Date of broadcast: 2 Sep 1986


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Posted