The platypus predatory behavior consumes about 12 hours of
their lives everyday due to their need to eat an estimated twenty percent of
their body weight in food each day (that’s a lot!). In order to achieve this,
the platypus must spent the majority of its day hunting for food. As I
mentioned in a previous post, the platypus is a carnivore and its main prey are
shrimps, worms, crayfish, fish eggs, mollusks, and larvae. The platypus catches
its prey while on a dive under the water. Platypus either catch their prey
while they are swimming or actively dig their prey up from under the riverbed.
Once caught, the platypus stores its prey inside its cheeks while it swims back
up to the surface to actually consume the food. As for what predators the platypus themselves have to watch
out for, it is a rather lengthy list that includes birds (like hawks and
eagles), wild cats and dogs, crocodiles, and foxes. The main predator of the
platypus, however, sadly used to be humans. Before they were protected by laws set in place as
conservation measures, humans used to hunt the platypus for their unique fur
that is warm and soft yet also water resistant. Unfortunately humans are still
a danger to the platypus because of our destruction of their natural
environment and especially our unsafe use of fishing nets in freshwater
locations (they drown in the nets that are left behind). While the use of nets
in freshwater bodies has been officially band it is still practiced by
insensitive fishermen today and therefore still poses a risk to our beautiful
platypus friends. 
PLATYPUS CATCHES A YABBY VIDEO!:
Wow, that's crazy that they devote 12 hours of their day to searching for food! I can't imagine spending half of my life that way! I wonder why they need to eat 20% of their body weight in food every day? You think that they would evolve to prey on larger food sources to reduce the amount of time they needed to spend on finding food every day...
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