Can a platypus bite

Answer 1

No. To begin with, platypuses have no teeth so they cannot bite.

However, the male platypus does have the distinction of being one of the world's most venomous mammals. This creature has a small, hollow, poisonous spur on the back of each of its hind feet. The venom cannot kill a person, but it will cause swelling and excruciating pain that can last for months. The venom is enough to kill an animal the size of a small dog, but not a healthy human.

Answer 2

Platypuses have venom, not "poison".

If one is a victim of a male platypus's venomous spur, the main symptom is severe and agonising pain which can paralyse a victim just by its severity. People who have been "spurred" by a platypus report that the pain is strong enough to cause vomiting that may last for days, weeks or sometimes even months. The pain cannot be relieved by morphine and other standard pain-killing drugs. It seems the only way it can be relieved is through anaesthesia of the main nerve from the spur site.

Answer 3

No. There are no documented cases of people dying from platypus venom. A platypus could only kill a baby or toddler, and children of this size would be unlikely to interfere with a platypus enough to be spurred with the venom. Only a severely weakened adult could die if he or she was indeed with platypus venom. This venom contains a neurotoxin which induces paralysis, as well as a protein which lowers blood pressure, also inducing shock. People who have been "spurred" by a platypus report that the pain is strong enough to cause vomiting that may last for days, weeks or sometimes even months. The pain cannot be relieved by morphine and other standard pain-killing drugs. It seems the only way it can be relieved is through anaesthesia of the main nerve from the spur site.

Answer 4

No. Platypuses cannot bite because they do not have teeth. Instead, they have grinding plates for crushing their food.