Platypuses

All mammals suckle their young. That is one of the defining characteristics that makes them mammals. Even egg-laying mammals (monotremes which include the platypus and echidna) suckle their young.

The platypus is completely covered, from head to foot, with thick, velvety, waterproof fur. Its legs are also furry.

Male Platypuses have ankle spurs on their hind legs through which they can dispense venom composed largely of defensin-like proteins (DLPs), unique to the Platypus. This venom is powerful enough to kill smaller animals, and to cause agonising pain to humans.

Platypuses also dig burrows into riverbanks. These burrows are only large enough for smaller predators to enter, but they do not provide protection from snakes. The burrows may extend into a riverbank as far as 30 m (100 feet).

Yes and no. Platypuses have the normal five sense - sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell - but they also have an extra "sense". In their bill they have tiny electroreceptors (hence, the sense of electroreception) which enable them to detect the tiny electrical impulses of crustaceans and insect larvae on which they feed in the water.

No they are omnivores.

The platypus has fur, which is essentially the same as fur.

Platypuses have two layers of fur: an outer layer of waterproof fur over a layer of downy fur. It covers all of the platypus's body except for its feet.

No. Bears are not found in Australia, which is the only continent on which the platypus lives.

Platypuses do not 'sting', but rather inject venom via a spur in the male's hind ankle.

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.

Yes; platypuses lay soft, leathery eggs rather than hard-shelled eggs.

The platypus, like any other mammal, is made up of a skeleton, internal organs and an outer covering of skin - in this case, covered with fur. It is not made up of other animals, as some people mistakenly think.

Platypuses are monotremes. The exact origin of platypuses, or monotremes in general, is not well known.

The platypus has only ever been a platypus. It has not been an otter, a duck or a beaver. Fossils of possible platypus ancestors indicate that, if it did indeed have other ancestors, they shared the same characteristics it has today.

No. Bull Hippos fight each other to decide who gets to mate with the cow hippos. When the baby is born the mother is careful to keep it away from the bulls, as they will kill it in order to make the cow ready to mate again. The next time the cow may well mate with a different bull.

No, the Manatee and Platypus are not the same animal. They are not even related.

Manatees are marine, placental mammals, found in temperate waters around the world.

Platypuses are freshwater monotremes, or egg-laying mammals, endemic to Australia.

Platypuses breed just once a year, laying one to three eggs at a time. The eggs are soft-shelled and leathery.

All monotremes lay eggs. That is their classification - egg-laying mammals. There are only 2 animals that are monotremes, the platypus and the echidna. There are, however, 2 different species of echidna.
Yes. Monotremes are the egg-laying mammals, which include just platypuses and echidnas.

Like all mammals, a platypus has two ears.Platypuses have no external earlobes, so in that sense they have invisible ears. They have external openings to the ear which are located either side of the base of the jaw.

A platypus does many things. Unlike almost all other mammals, it reproduces by laying eggs. It swims, yet uses its feet also for digging burrows. It hunts for food in freshwater creeks, spending much of its waking time in the water.

Humans affect platypuses through habitat loss and pollution of waterways. People have introduced predatory species such as dogs and foxes. Using nets to catch fish has caused innumerable platypus deaths in the past, but this practice is now illegal.

In the past, humans affected the platypus by killing them for their pelts, but since the platypus has become a protected species, its numbers have returned to figures similar to what they were before European settlement in Australia. There are fewer platypuses in the wild in South Australia than there once were.

Now, the platypus is officially protected.

The platypus is not endangered. There was a time when it was under threat, being particularly prized for its fur years ago. 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 now strictly protected by law.

The platypus is vulnerable because of habitat loss through deforestation, dams and irrigation projects. They have disappeared from South Australia. Tasmanian platypuses are subject to a disease caused by the fungus Mucor amphibiorum, which has fortunately not migrated to the mainland. Affected animals often develop skin lesions or ulcers, and the biggest threat to their survival arises from secondary infection. This can affect the platypus's ability to maintain body temperature and to hunt properly for food on the bottom of rivers and creeks.

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)

The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia and Tasmania. Together with the short-beaked and long-beaked echidna, it is one of the three species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Like placental mammals and marsupials, the young are suckled by the mother. It is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species have been found in the fossil record.

Platypuses live in burrows they dig in riverbanks, and hunt for their food in water. Their bills are equipped with very sensitive electro-receptors, with which they can sense the movements of tiny crustaceans and larvae on the bottom of rivers and creeks.

Whilst some may say it has a unique appearance similar to that of a beaver with a duck's head, it really does not look like that at all. It is covered in fur, and its head is flat and streamlined for swimming under the water's surface. Its bill is different in shape to that of a duck, so even the term "duck-billed platypus" is a misnomer. It has webbed feet, claws and a flat tail, and lives in burrows in riverbanks.

The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying mammal with a bill baffled naturalists when it was first discovered, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. It is one of the few venomous mammals; the male Platypus has a spur on the hind foot which delivers a poison capable of killing a small dog or causing severe pain to humans - pain which can last for months. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of biology.

No. The platypus does not eat plants. 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.

Sometimes, some aquatic plants are accidentally ingested with the invertebrates collected by the platypus. These do not constitute part of the platypus's diet.

No. Platypuses are carnivores. They are predators, feeding on small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae of caddisflies, mayflies and two-winged flies, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish. Occasionally, while foraging for food, they may accidentally ingest plant matter, but they do not seek to eat vegetation.

Male platypuses have a venomous spur on each of their hind legs, through which they can deliver a poison strong enough to kill a small dog, and to cause almost paralysing agony to an adult human.

Female platypuses do not have venom, but they are born with spurs. These spurs fall off by the time the young female is about a year old.