Author Jack Ashby is the assistant director of the University Museum of Zoology at Cambridge and a self-confessed platypus fanatic.

In December 1799, an unsuspecting Englishwoman was bonked on the head by a dead platypus when the barrel of alcohol she was carrying aloft burst and spilled its contents in a “cascade of ‘pungent and foul-smelling spirits.’” The woman nearly suffocated.Īnd so begins Platypus Matters, a hilarious and engaging new book about platypuses and other Australian mammals. Here are three new books covering all thing platypus, Australian natural history, and a new bird field guide. But after reading Jack Ashby’s new book, Platypus Matters, I realized that the humble platypus is even more wonderful than I ever imagined. I’ve seen them on my grocery runs at least once a month, and I’ve even helped conservation scientists trap them for research. When my errands are done I walk along the banks, watching the still water for ripples or the tell-tale bubbles that appear before the platypus pops to the surface to chew its meal. A small creek runs through the nearby country town, crossing beneath Main Street and running alongside the grocery store parking lot, eventually flowing through a small nature reserve. I live on the fringes of suburbia an hour or so north of Brisbane. Every Sunday - after I do the grocery shopping and buy veggies at the local farmer’s market - I go looking for the platypus.

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