Australian Platypus is Ancient

Inhabiting the Australian ecosystems are some of the last of the mammals that evolved in the Southern Hemisphere, the most ancient egg-laying monotreme mammals, platypus and echidna, that feed their young on milk & have reptile-like skeletons. The platypus that swam in the rivers around the feet of the dinosaurs 120 million years ago is a model that I photographed in the Australian Museum. Sixty five million year after the dinosaurs succumbed to the rigors of life the platypus swim around the feet of humans, only along the Australian east coast.