Platypuses

A male platypus is 50-60 cm in length, whilst the female is smaller, averaging 40-50 cm in length. They are very lightly built creatures, with females weighing as little as 900 grams, and males 1700 grams to 2kg.

Tasmanian platypuses tend to be larger than their northern counterparts.

All animals which have a spine, or backbone, are classified in the phylum Chordata. There are three subphylums in Chordata: Urochordata (tunicates), Cephalachordata (lancelets), and Vertebrata (vertebrates). The platypus is a vertebrate. This phylum also includes all animals which have a hollow nerve cord and a notochord at some stage during their development. In the case of vertebrates, the notochord is present in the embryo, and develops into the vertebral body.

Very little is known about whether the platypus has a good sense of smell or not.

However, when hunting for food underwater, the platypus closes its nostrils, along with its eyes and ears, so it probably does not have a particularly acute sense of smell. it does not require scent to hunt for its prey, as its bill is equipped with sensitive electroreceptors that detect the tiny electrical impulses made by aquatic insects, larvae, worms and crustaceans.

Platypuses can stay in the water all night, when is primarily when they feed. They make hundreds of dives daily in order to find enough food, swimming and sifting for invertebrates in the mud at the bottom of the river or creek. They only need to come out onto land to sleep.

The platypus does not need to do anything differently in the summer to keep itself cool.

Platypuses are found through the eastern states of Austalia, and although the climate varies from hot and humid during summer in the north to hot and dry in the south, water temperature generally remains about the same. When swimming and hunting for food, the platypus remains cool, while its riverside burrow keeps it insulated from the heat while it sleeps during the day.

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Little research has been done on platypus vision, and that includes what colours they can see. Platypuses are believed to be able to see colour, as it is known that they do have colour receptors, called 'cones' in their eyes. However, it has not yet been determined which colours they can detect.

There has never been more than one species of platypus (except for a prehistoric platypus as shown by fossil remains). Platypuses in the north, like the koala, are smaller than their southern counterparts, but they are still a single species.

A platypus is a monotreme, i.e. an egg-laying mammal. It is one of just three species of egg-laying mammal in the world (the others being the short-beaked echidna and the long-beaked echidna).

It has dense, waterproof fur and a thick, furry tail, which is nothing like a beaver's tail, despite commonly being compared with it. A thicker tail is a sign of a healthy platypus.

The platypus uses its flat bill to find food. It closes its eyes when underwater, and uses its bill to detect movements. Equipped with electroreceptors, the sensitive bill can sense electrical impulses, even the tiniest of movements made by underwater crustaceans. The bill is also used to shovel up the soil on the bottom of the river or creek in order to find the food. Once found, the platypus uses grinding plates in its bill, rather than teeth, to crush the food before eating 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 webbing retracts so the platypus can dig its burrow.

The male platypus has a venomous spur on its hind leg, which cannot kill a human but can cause extreme pain.

The platypus has four legs. When on land, it walks. When in water, it swims. Its feet have retractable webbing between the toes. This means it can swim effectively, but it can also dig on land because the webbing retracts to expose the sharp claws.

The platypus is an egg-laying mammal. Some may consider that the platypus has a bill like a duck, but the term "duck-billed platypus" is a complete misnomer. Its bill does not look like a duck's bill, being flatter and much broader, and made of a totally different substance; nor does it serve the same function as a duck's bill, having very unique properties such as electroreception.

The platypus is quite a small animal. A male platypus is between 50-60 cm in length, whilst the female is smaller, averaging 40-50 cm in length. They are very lightly built creatures, with females weighing as little as 900 grams, and males 1700 grams to 2kg.

Platypuses in north Queensland tend to be smaller than their southern counterparts. Some Tasmanian platypus have been known to weigh up to 3 kg.

Since a platypus lives in freshwater, it most likely drinks water from these sources. Platypuses drink fresh water found in rivers, creeks and ponds. They are semi-aquatic and reliant upon water for their survival. Platypuses simply drink water by scooping it up in their bill.

The platypus has an average of two babies each year. Platypuses are monotremes, or egg-laying mammals, and the female lays between one and red eggs each breeding season, which occurs once a year. The average number of babies tends to be two.

Yes.

A platypus is a secondary consumer. Secondary consumers are animals that eat primary consumers, and although platypuses do not eat fish, they do eat other primary consumers such as crustaceans, insect larvae and annelid worms.

Monotreme young are hatched from eggs. Unlike other mammals, they are not born live. They are still mammals because the mother nurtures her young with milk which she secretes from glands on her abdomen.

The platypuses is specially adapted to find food in an underwater environment. As carnivores, they are predators; they eat small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish which live on the bottom of freshwater creeks and rivers.

To catch their prey, platypuses make several hundred dives a day in order to catch enough food. They use the fine, sensitive electroreceptors on their bills, which detect the tiny electrical impulses made by underwater creatures. After locating their prey, they dig up the mud with their bill to grasp them, crushing the creatures between grinding plates in their bills.

• semi-aquatic
• furry
• nocturnal
• carnivorous
• underwater hunters
• burrowing
• unique

The temperature where a platypus lives varies tremendously, as platypuses are found right along the length of the Great Dividing Range in eastern Australia. Platypuses can live in temperatures that drop to below 0 degrees Celsius in Tasmania in winter, or reach in excess of 35 degrees Celsius during summer. 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 are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night, as well as in the early morning hours, and dusk.

Adult male platypuses have venomous (not poisonous) spurs on their ankles, and it is not the hollow spur itself that is venomous. The spur is attached to a venom gland in the platypus's thigh.

It is not known why platypus spurs are venomous, but it is believed to be a defensive mechanism to deter predators. There has been limited research done on platypuses, so it is unknown whether the spur is used in territorial disputes between the males of the species, as only the males have spurs.

Through these spurs, they can deliver a venom strong enough to kill a small dog, and to cause almost paralysing agony to an adult human. Platypus venom contains a protein which lowers blood pressure, also inducing shock.

No. Ovoviviparous means that the female produces eggs which hatch inside her body, meaning she actually gives live birth. Platypuses are oviparous, which is quite different from being ovoviviparous. They lay eggs, and incubate them for ten days.