Jack Ashby

It's a subconscious hangover from the way we've been conditioned by two centuries or more of Australian zoology.

And is the platypus suffering from this, do you think?

Well, unfortunately, it's not just the platypus, but Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate of anywhere in the world, of every...

From across the world, of all extinctions that have happened since 1788, more than a third have happened in Australia.

And I think it just can't help if we write these animals off as inferior.

It doesn't help, you know, argue against, you know, other demands on Australian resources if you're going up against...

mining or land clearing or urbanization to think, oh, these little animals, they're cute, but ultimately they're evolutionary destined to go extinct.

That's not how evolution works and I don't think it helps their case.

I think we should embrace the wonderful and get rid of the weird and wonderful.

Thank you so much.