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Member Login2004 - David Parer ACS
David Parer ACS has built his reputation on delivering the pictures we never thought we'd see. His latest venture is no exception, as he sets out to solve the riddle of this quintessentially Australian animal.
Three years in the making, this blue chip natural history film takes Parer down the east coast of Australia to the many serenely beautiful habitats of the platypus.
Technology specially created for this film captures images and sounds from inside the nesting chamber of wild platypus. In the course of the film we see the young grow from six centimeters to four times that size.
About Platypus: Worlds Strangest Animal
When the existence of the platypus first became known in the Old
World, it was widely considered to be a hoax. After all, how
could the established scientific community take seriously an
animal with the bill of a duck, webbed feet like a duck, a tail
like a beaver and a venomous spur to rival more than a few
snakes? Centuries on and the platypus remains almost as big a
mystery as it did when it was first brought to the Old World.
Indeed, considering that it is an egg-laying mammal, it even
exceeds the mystery that it was two hundred odd years ago, for
they did not know that it was in fact a monotreme. After all,
exactly how many species making up the monotremes are there in
the world?
Well, precisely two - the platypus and its near relative the
echidna. Not so funnily enough they both come from the same place
on Earth...
The platypus has long been the subject of much puzzlement and
debate over the past two centuries. Whilst there is still a fair
chunk that we do not understand about this most unusual creature,
what we have found out certainly makes it a very strong contender
for the strangest animal on Earth. Most of what we have
discovered about the platypus has come fairly recently. Very
difficult to breed in captivity, which severely restricted
understanding, it has only been through the work of film makers
like David Parer that we have answered some of the mysteries
about the animal, whilst also uncovering a few more
The Age, Melbourne
13-Sept-03
About David Parer ACS
David Parer ACS began his career as a physicist and spent two
winters (1970 & '72) in the Antarctic studying cosmic
rays. Soon the lure of the electron was replaced by a fascination
for the photon and he took to making wildlife films for the newly
formed ABC Natural History Unit. Trips to New Guinea, Macquarie
Island and a return to the Antarctic resulted in a dozen
programs.
He and his wife Liz then teamed up in the late 1970's,
working together on many films including the 'Nature of
Australia' series for Australia's bicentenary.
David was accredited by the ACS in …
Some of David’s recent projects have included 'Wolves
of the Sea' (killer whales), 'Mysteries of the Ocean
Wanderers' (wandering albatross) and a 3 part series on the
Galapagos of which 'Two Years in Galapagos' is the second
program.