The platypus belongs to the family Ornithorhynchidae, which includes only one other species: the echidna. Echidnas, also known as spiny anteaters, share similar characteristics with platypuses such as laying eggs and having a unique combination of mammalian and reptilian features.
The scientific name for egg-laying mammals is monotremes. These unique mammals include the platypus and echidnas, which lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.
The scientific classification of a platypus is as follows: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Monotremata Family: Ornithorhynchidae Genus: Ornithorhynchus Species: Anatinus
sea water as in the the white small ones that you pump up on the beach. Does this type of yabby eat carrot ??
The platypus is native to the Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. It can also be found in the far east of South Australia. It is found in freshwater creeks and rivers closer to the coast, although it can be found some distance inland.
To some, platypuses may be considered to be strange because they are unique to Australia and one of only two types of mammals to lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. (The other type is the echidna.)
The platypus's appearance is also unusual - it has a duck-like bill, a sleek and streamlined otter-like body, a short, thick tail like a beaver, the male has a venomous spur, and its feet are webbed. It uses its sensitive bill which is equipped with electroreceptors to find food underwater.
Platypuses have feet with retractable webbing. They have webbed feet which help when they are swimming, but their unique design is such that the webbing membrane can be retracted when the platypus needs to dig. As the webbing retracts, the sharp claws are exposed, and the delicate webbing is not damaged by the digging action.
No. Platypuses are not blind. In fact, they have acute vision. However, they do close their eyes when searching underwater for food.
They use a form of electric sensing, called "electroreception", whereby they detect changes in the electric field generated by their bill. The presence of something within that field would cause fluctuations in it, and so the platypus can 'see' the prey by electricity. They close their eyes so as to be able to use the electric sense more efficiently, in the same way that closing our eyes often helps to hear better - it removes confusion.
The position of a platypus's eyes enable it to scan the banks of rivers and creeks to watch for potential predators. Because platypuses' eyes contain cone receptors, it is believed they can also see colour.
The platypus has sharp claws on its feet. The feet have a retracting webbed membrane which can expose the claws, enabling the platypus to effectively dig burrows
How about "Daffy"? or "Peking"? "Donald" works too, if you have no friends who would be offended.
The platypus is classified as a mammal. It has all the defining characteristics of a mammal, including the ability to nurture its young on mothers' milk. It is a monotreme, of the order monotremata, meaning it is an egg-laying mammal.
The newly hatched young are vulnerable, blind, and hairless, and are fed by the mother's milk. Although possessing mammary glands, the Platypus lacks teats. Instead, milk is released through pores in the skin. There are grooves on her abdomen that form pools of milk, allowing the young to lap it up.[3][33] After they hatch, the offspring are suckled for three to four months.
Of course not. Platypuses are endemic to Australia, meaning they are found only in that country.
The platypus has a number of specific adaptations which enable it to live and hunt in its habitat. It has:
The platypus is not a mixture of anything. It is an entirely self-contained mammal, specifically a monotreme, which is an egg-laying mammal. It happens to have a bill which some believe resembles that of a duck, but is in fact much broader than a duck's bill, and which is equipped with electro-receptors with which it can locate food. It also has webbed feet with retractable webbing to expose its claws for digging - again, nothing like a duck's feet. It has a flat tail which some believe to be similar to that of a beaver, but it is not.
The platypus is a monotreme, one of three extant species, the other two being the short beaked echidna and the long-beaked echidna, of which there are four recognised sub-species. Albeit bizarre, the platypus is simply a creature of adaptation.
The platypus is not indigenous to Louisiana, so it would naturally not be endangered there.
In fact, the platypus is not endangered anywhere in the world. The Australian Government lists the platypus as "common but vulnerable". The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the platypus as "least concern".
Platypuses are one of only two types of mammals to lay eggs. Fertilised platypus eggs stay in the mother's body for around 28 days. The egg is incubated by the mother curling around it and keeping it warm and dry in the chamber of the burrow for another 10 days.
Generally, hawks are protected in many countries, but it depends on the species and the country.
In North America, species such as the Red-tailed Hawk and Common Black Hawk are protected through much of their range.
In Australia, the Christmas Island hawk and other native hawks are protected throughout the country.
Platypuses do not always have a big tail. The size of a platypus's tail is a indication of how healthy it is, and how much food has been available. A platypus 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.
The tail is also useful for other purposes, and needs to be a good size in order to perform these functions. 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. In addition, the tail of a platypus helps the animal to swim and acts as a rudder when it dives.
Platypuses live throughout eastern coastal Australia and its island state of Tasmania, particularly within heavily wooded and protected regions. They are found from the cooler sub-alpine areas in the south, such as Victoria and the Tasmanian highlands, north through New South Wales to tropical far north Queensland. Platypuses live in bushland as well as tropical, sub-tropical and temperate rainforests. Platypuses live in burrows that they dig on the banks of freshwater creeks, rivers, lakes and dams.
They spend their time searching for food in rivers and lakes, and are thus considered semi-aquatic. Platypuses are carnivores. They are predators; they eat small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae of caddisflies, mayflies and two-winged flies, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish. During summer, they eat more than during winter, in order to build up reserves of fat.
To begin with, baby platypuses only stay with their mother. The father has nothing to do with raising the young.
Baby platypuses suckle from their mother for three to four months. They then spend several more months with the mother, learning to hunt. Young platypuses stay with their mother for up to a year.
No. Platypuses are uniquely adapted to live in the country and continent of Australia.