Why does the platypus have a tail like a beaver?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

No. Although both creatures have flat tails, there are some differences.

• Their tails are a different shape.
• The beaver's tail is broader and flatter than a platypus's, and covered with special scales. The platypus's tail is covered with dense fur.
• Their tails serve different purposes. The beaver's tail is used to help propel it along in the water. The platypus's tail is used as a rudder, for steering when it is swimming.

Answer 3

The platypus does not actually have a tail like a beaver.

• The beaver's tail is broader and flatter than a platypus's, and covered with special scales. The platypus's tail is covered with dense fur.
• Their tails serve different purposes. The beaver's tail is used to help propel it along in the water. The platypus's tail is used as a rudder, for steering when it is swimming, but it also stores fat. A thicker tail is the sign of a healthier platypus.

Answer 4

Yes. The tail of a platypus has a very important function. It helps the animal to swim and acts as a rudder when it dives.

A platypus also stores most of its body fat in its tail to help it survive when food is limited, and to prepare for when the female must incubate her eggs and care for the young when they hatch.

During the breeding season, the female digs herself a chamber within her deep burrow, and this chamber is lined with leaves and other nesting material. The female with carry this nesting material rolled underneath her tail as she climbs up and down steep riverbanks.

Answer 5

Platypuses and beavers are both warm blooded, air breathing mammals which are semi-aquatic. They live on dry land but hunt for their food in water. As mammals, they nurture their young on mothers' milk.

That is where the similarities end.

Differences between the platypus and the beaver are:

• A beaver is a rodent which bears live young; a platypus is a monotreme (egg-laying mammal)
• A beaver has large front teeth; platypuses have a bill with no teeth, but grinding plates
• Platypuses live in Australia and beavers live in North America and Canada.
• A platypus digs a burrow in the side of a riverbank or creekbank, with an extra chamber at the end for incubating and raising its young; a beaver chews down trees to eat and makes a dam to raise its young.
• The platypus is the only venomous mammal - the male has a spur on its hind leg with which to inject poison that is extremely painful and has long-lasting effects
• The beaver's tail is broader and flatter than a platypus's, and covered with special scales. The platypus's tail is covered with dense fur.
• Their tails serve different purposes. The beaver's tail is used to help propel it along in the water. The platypus's tail is used as a rudder, for steering when it is swimming.

Answer 6

The platypus does not actually have a tail like a beaver. The beaver's tail is broader and flatter than a platypus's, and covered with special scales. The platypus's tail is covered with dense fur.

Their tails serve quite different purposes. The beaver's tail is used to help propel it along in the water. The platypus's tail is used as a rudder, for steering when it is swimming, but it also stores fat. A thicker tail is the sign of a healthier platypus. The female tends to live on the fat stored in her tail while she incubates her eggs.

Answer 7

Yes. The platypus's tail is fully furred, unlike that of the beaver, to which they are often compared. See the related weblink below for a picture of the platypus, clearly showing the furred tail.

Answer 8

Platypuses and ducks, which are not even remotely related, both have tails, although the duck has "tail feathers" rather than an actual, full tail.