Halls Gap

Platapus Near the Mackenzie Falls in the Grampians National Park

The MacKenzie and Glenelg rivers have their headwaters in the Grampian ranges, and provide vital habitats for a wealth of precious riverine plants and animals.

Platypus have been spotted in the Mackenzie river down from the falls. They are part of a small, isolated and threatened population the only one in the Wimmera catchment.

Platypuses are shy animals that shelter in deep burrows and come out at night to feed. They swim with their eyes shut using electroreceptors in their distinctive bills to find shrimps, worms and water beetles.

Like so many threatened species, habitat protection is key to the platypus' survival. But while droughts and restricted water flows can have major impacts on their home, they are also very resilient animals surviving catastrophic, floods and bushfires.