In Pursuit of the Platypus

Gilad Bino and Tahneal Hawke

Behind the scenes in the race to save one of Australia’s favourite – and most enigmatic – animals.

Gilad Bino and Tahneal Hawke have spent the last decade wading into rivers at 3 am, navigating nine-hour drives in a leaking Hilux and knocking on farmers’ doors to ask about animals most of us have only ever seen on a coin. Along the way, they’ve discovered something uncomfortable about the platypus: one of Australia’s most beloved species is in far more trouble than anyone realised, thanks to dams, droughts, fires, fragmented rivers and a public that has never thought much about what it needs to survive.

In Pursuit of the Platypus is an eye-opening, entertaining and ultimately hopeful story of the science, the fieldwork and the people behind one of Australia’s most urgent conservation efforts.

Release: May-2027

ISBN: 9781761170690

RRP (AUD): $34.99

Pages: 224

Format: Paperback & ebook

As founder of the Platypus Conservation Initiative, Gilad Bino is at the forefront of efforts to deepen our understanding of the platypus. Dedicating her research career to platypus conservation, Tahneal Hawke has spent countless nights riverside and captured hundreds of platypuses,