What are the skills of a platypus?

Answer 1

A platypus is a monotreme, i.e. an egg-laying mammal. It has dense, waterproof fur and a thick, furry tail, which is nothing like a beaver's tail, despite commonly being compared with it.

It has short legs with webbed feet, and is well-equipped to hunt in the water, yet spends most of its time on land. Each foot has five toes with sharp claws, as it digs a burrow in the riverbank for shelter. When swimming, a membranous "web" extends between the toes. The male platypus has a venomous spur on its hind leg, which cannot kill a human but can cause extreme pain.

The platypus is shy and nocturnal, active mostly at dawn and dusk. It hunts for food underwater, using its bill, which is equipped with extremely sensitive electro-receptors to find food such as insect larvae, snails, annelid worms, and crustaceans. It can remain underwater for between one and five minutes. The platypus does not have teeth with which to eat its food, but it crushes its food with grinding plates.

The platypus is found in freshwater creeks and rivers in eastern Australia, from sub-alpine regions north to the sub-tropical zone.

(See 'Related links' below for pictures and more information)

Answer 2

A platypus is skilled in swimming and diving, both of which make it an equally skilled hunter of crustaceans.

Given that it has retractable webbing on its feet, the platypus is also skilled in burrowing.

Answer 3

Adult males use the spurs on their hind feet if threatened.

Platypuses dive and swim in order to find food.

They dig burrows in riverbanks for shelter.

They lie motionless underwater for up to eight minutes, holding their breath, if danger threatens.

Answer 4

A platypus is a monotreme, i.e. an egg-laying mammal. It is semi-aquatic. It has dense, waterproof fur and a thick, furry tail, which is nothing like a beaver's tail, despite commonly being compared with it.

It has short legs with webbed feet, and is well-equipped to hunt in the water, yet spends most of its time on land. Each foot has five toes with sharp claws, as it digs a burrow in the riverbank for shelter. When swimming, a membranous "web" extends between the toes. The male platypus has a venomous spur on its hind leg, which cannot kill a human but can cause extreme pain.

The platypus is shy and nocturnal, active mostly at dawn and dusk. It hunts for food underwater, using its duck-like bill, which is equipped with extremely sensitive electro-receptors to find food such as insect larvae, snails, worms, small fish, and crustaceans. It can remain underwater for between one and five minutes.

The platypus is found in freshwater creeks and rivers in eastern Australia, from sub-alpine regions north to the sub-tropical zone.

Answer 5

Platypuses have many special traits. Some of them are:

• Webbed feet with a retracting webbed membrane which can expose the claws, enabling the platypus to effectively dig burrows. Its claws are used for digging burrows into riverbanks for shelter, and the webbing membrane retracts for that purpose, but spreads between its toes when it needs to swim - which it needs to do to get its food.
• The platypus can remain underwater for between one and five minutes. Its bill has sensitive electroreceptors which pick up tiny nerve and electrical impulses generated by crustaceans and other animals that inhabit the bottom of the creek or river. The platypus then uses its bill to shovel away the dirt, and find the food. It does not have teeth, but hard bony plates which it uses to grind the food.
• The platypus lays eggs (as does the echidna), unlike other mammals. However, it secretes mothers' milk through glands, rather than teats, on which the young feed after hatching.
• Males have venomous spurs on their hind legs to harm or kill predators
• The liver gets rid of water but stores fat
• During mating season, the female platypus digs a separate chamber at the end of her burrow. The eggs are laid here, and once hatched, the mother "closes off" the chamber with a wall of leaves when she leaves, to protect the young. The wall of leaves is also designed in such a way that it helps remove excess water from the platypus when she returns, thus keeping the chamber as dry as possible.

Answer 6

Traits unique to the platypus include:

• Webbed feet with a retracting webbed membrane which can expose the claws, enabling the platypus to effectively dig burrows. Its claws are used for digging burrows into riverbanks for shelter, and the webbing membrane retracts for that purpose, but spreads between its toes when it needs to swim - which it needs to do to get its food.
• The platypus can remain underwater for between one and five minutes. Its bill has sensitive electroreceptors which pick up tiny nerve and electrical impulses generated by crustaceans and other animals that inhabit the bottom of the creek or river. The platypus then uses its bill to shovel away the dirt, and find the food. It does not have teeth, but hard bony plates which it uses to grind the food.
• The platypus lays eggs (as does the echidna), unlike other mammals. However, it secretes mothers' milk through glands, rather than teats, on which the young feed after hatching.
• Males have venomous spurs on their hind legs to harm or kill predators
• The liver gets rid of water but stores fat
• During mating season, the female platypus digs a separate chamber at the end of her burrow. The eggs are laid here, and once hatched, the mother "closes off" the chamber with a wall of leaves when she leaves, to protect the young. The wall of leaves is also designed in such a way that it helps remove excess water from the platypus when she returns, thus keeping the chamber as dry as possible.

Answer 7

Platypuses are very effective hunters. Platypuses are carnivores. They are predators; they eat small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish. Platypuses catch their food in the water. They may make hundreds of dives in a single day. The bill of a platypus has sensitive electroreceptors which pick up tiny nerve and electrical impulses generated by crustaceans and other animals that inhabit the bottom of the creek or river. The platypus then uses its bill to shovel away the dirt, and find the food.