LIFESTREAM JIGSAW PUZZLE
ABOUT LIFESTREAM
An enigmatic animate…
Australia’s platypus.
A monotreme with only one companion: the echidna.
Both suckle their young, both lay eggs. the only two animals to do so in the world. In Life Stream a Platypus comes face-to-face with a yabby, both in shock they stare startled in to each other’s eyes. Escaping the scene we see a long-necked fresh water turtle and a kingfisher dives in unaware of the scene below.
“LIFESTREAM”. A POEM.
“I swim amongst yabbies and turtles and fish
I know who I am and that I evoke fascination
I have a beak and fur and lay eggs
A freak of the collective imagination
I feed my young milk and have a pouch
I have one cousin, we are similar creatures
She is spiky though and likes to eat ants
Echidna shares my unusual features
In ancient times I was a part of the Mega Fauna
My ancestors were as big as a croc
It was a time when giants roamed the Earth
Now I’m small it’s only yabbies I shock
Platypus…. what a name
It’s unique and very Australian
It suits me down pat because I am me
Yet I’m as cute as a cuddly mammalian
There are only two of us in our exclusive group
The attributes we share are rather extreme
Not marsupial, amphibian, mammal or reptile
We are what they call a monotreme.”