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WATCH: Elusive mammal filmed at Mossman GorgePrintShare

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RARE DISPLAY

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Watch the rare display of a platypus at Mossman Gorge below. IMAGE: Supplied.
Watch the rare display of a platypus at Mossman Gorge below. IMAGE: Supplied.

A RARE encounter with one of Australia’s most loved and elusive animals has been filmed at Mossman Gorge.

Daintree Wonder Tours guide Dean Nulty has shared incredible footage of a small platypus playing on a rock in an amazing display of showmanship for the famously shy mammal.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW

“They are known for being elusive, so to see one feeding and playing like this is a real treat and one that will stay with Dean and his lucky guests for a long time,” the Daintree Wonder Tours posted on Facebook today.

Platypuses are one of the most bizarre looking creatures in the animal kingdom due largely to its mismatched body.

The Charles Wright-designed 'The Glass House' in Port Douglas. IMAGE: Domain.
The Charles Wright-designed 'The Glass House' in Port Douglas. IMAGE: Domain.


“When the first platypus was shipped to Britain from Australia, people thought it was a joke and that someone had sewn a duck's bill to a mammal's body,” the BBC’s Nature website explains.

“Even when accepted as real, it was thought to be a bird or a reptile as it laid eggs.”

The platypus is also famed for being one of Sir David Attenborough's most loved animals.

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