‘There is a python with a platypus in its mouth’- botanist’s extreme monotreme v reptile encounter

While exploring the hidden delights of Marys Creek State Forest in Queensland, botanist Elliot Bowerman found himself captivated not just by blooming myrtle shrubs, but by an astonishing sight that would leave any nature enthusiast in awe.

“I was just admiring a Gossia bidwillii when my friend Darren called out to me,” Bowerman recalled. “He said, ‘there’s a python with a platypus in its mouth.’”

What followed was a remarkable encounter with a two-meter-long carpet python, its jaws locked around the webbed foot of a platypus, a creature so unique that an 18th-century British scientist once deemed it a fabrication.

“We approached cautiously, took a few photos, and then moved on quickly,” Bowerman shared. “We didn’t want to disturb the snake.”

The unfortunate male platypus appeared to have met its end after what must have been a fierce struggle against the predator. “I can only imagine it put up quite a fight, especially with those venomous spurs,” he mused.

Days after this thrilling discovery, Bowerman, a 32-year-old former chef-turned-botanist, was equally enthusiastic about another significant find during the same expedition. Along with his companion Darren Williams, they stumbled upon a stand of Croton lucens, a critically endangered plant species found exclusively in the Gympie area.

“It’s a pretty benign-looking shrub,” Bowerman explained. “But because it’s endemic to Gympie, it holds particular significance.”

This wasn’t the first time they witnessed extraordinary behavior in the wild. Just last August, while hiking in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, Bowerman and his partner encountered a carnivorous marsupial mouse—an antechinus—devouring a dead member of its own species. This rare instance of opportunistic cannibalism marked the first such behavior recorded in these little creatures, known for their intense mating habits, and even contributed to Bowerman’s co-authorship of a paper published in Australian Mammalogy.

“It’s all about being out there,” he emphasized when reflecting on his talent for stumbling upon remarkable events in nature. “If you’re not out there, you won’t see it.”