The platypus feeds by snagging swimming creatures with its bill and by rousting them out of stream bottom mud and gravel, shoveling it up with its bill to put buried creatures to flight, then catching them as they try to escape.

Since the platypus must breathe air, it combines underwater hunting with trips to the surface to exhale and inhale. It will usually stay submerged for about a minute at a time, although it can stay submerged for up to five minutes.