PUGGLE RETURNS TO THE CREEK AFTER BECOMING MUDDLED A wild baby platypus has found its way back to its natural habitat after being nursed back to health at Healesville Sanctuary. The young platypus, also known as a ‘puggle’, was found badly dehydrated and underweight by a member of the public on a driveway in Healesville last month. “Around this time of year, young platypus are leaving their mum’s burrows for the first time,” Sanctuary keeper Dr Jess Thomas said. “It’s quite easy for puggles to b

A baby platypus, commonly called a puggle, begins life by hatching blind and hairless from a small leathery egg. Instead of nursing through nipples, it feeds on milk that seeps from the mother’s skin pores, an unusual trait among mammals. The young remain inside the burrow for protection while they continue to develop. Platypuses are one of the world’s few egg-laying mammals and inhabit freshwater systems across eastern Australia and Tasmania. Although they are not officially classified as endan