When the first settlers came to Australia they discovered on the east coast of the new continent an until then unheard of animal. It measured about 50cm, had a brown fur coat, webbed feet like those of an otter and a flat long nose like a duck. It could not be classified as a mammal, and although it laid eggs it was neither a bird nor a reptile. It was so peculiar the first European scientists who received drawings and a dried skin thought it could not be born as is, some believed it must have been put together by an Asian taxidermist and closely examined it, looking for seam marks.

Some specimen were then conserved in spirits and sent back to the old world, where in 1799 the English scientist George Shaw gave it the name platypus anatinus (platypus being derived from Greek and meaning flat foot, anatinus meaning duck-like) . It was then discovered that the word platypus already belonged to a type of beetle and could not be used. Independently the animal had been described as an ornithorhyncus (Greek for bird-snout) paradoxus in 1800 by Johann Blumenbach. In order to respect the rules of priority the animal was recognised as an ornithorhyncus anatinus.

Why am I telling you all this? Because after weeks of hoping, after being unable to observe them in the Eungella National Park at Christmas (the access road was flooded) and hours of patient searching: yesterday I saw a platypus. He dove up about 3 meters in front of us and showed us his cute face with ist incredible bill and his twin looking tail and slowly swam away.

Ornithorhyncus paradoxus. Isn’t it the best animal name you’ve ever heard?