What makes a platypus different?

Answer 1

Many things make the platypus unique:

• It is one of just two egg-laying mammals (monotremes) in the world.
• It has a bill which vaguely resembles that of a duck, but which is equipped with special electroreceptors, which enable the platypus to sense electriccal impulses from tiny crustaceans and insect larvae at the bottom of creeks and rivers. It feeds on these creature, scooping it up with its bill, and crushing it between grinding plates, rather than teeth.
• It has retractable webbing between its claws. this enables it to swim in the water, but retract when it needs to dig a burrow.

Answer 2

Many things make the platypus seem unusual:

• It is one of just two egg-laying mammals (monotremes) in the world, the other being the echidna.
• It has a bill which vaguely resembles the shape of a duck's bill, but which is equipped with special electroreceptors, which enable the platypus to sense electriccal impulses from tiny crustaceans and insect larvae at the bottom of creeks and rivers. It feeds on these creature, scooping it up with its bill, and crushing it between grinding plates, rather than teeth.
• It has retractable webbing between its claws. this enables it to swim in the water, but retract when it needs to dig a burrow.
• The male platypus is one of the world's very few venomous mammals.

Answer 3

The platypus is a unique mammal, quite different from other animals in several ways.

Several things make the platypus different from other mammals:

• It is one of just two egg-laying mammals (monotremes) in the world: the other is the echidna.
• It has a bill which vaguely resembles that of a duck, but which is equipped with special electroreceptors, which enable the platypus to sense electrical impulses from tiny crustaceans and insect larvae at the bottom of creeks and rivers. It feeds on these creature, scooping it up with its bill, and crushing it between grinding plates, rather than teeth.
• It has retractable webbing between its claws. This enables it to swim in the water, but retract when it needs to dig a burrow.

Answer 4

The platypus and its fellow monotreme, the echidna, are unlike other mammals (including marsupials) because they do not bear live young, but lay eggs. No other mammals have this characteristic.

Answer 5

The platypus has many unique features, such as:

• 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.
• It is an unusual mammal in that it has a bill. 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.
• The platypus is a semi-aquatic animal, with thick, waterproof fur.
• It has a flat, beaver-like tail which acts as a rudder
• 2 eye lids for protection
• 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.