Platypuses

The platypus (ornithorhinchus anatinus) is a unique animal living in eastern Australia. It is a mammal that lays eggs, has a duck-like bill, beaver tail, otter feet, and is venomous. Because of its assorted and baffling features, many people have developed an interest for this strange animal, sometimes cited jokingly as the proof that God has a sense of humor.

Platypuses are mammals (although unusual egg-laying mammals) and, like all mammals, they feed their young on mothers' milk. The platypus does not suckle its young quite like other mammals do. It does not have nipples, but it exudes milk from specialised sweat glands on its abdomen.

No.

The Australian Aborigines may have hunted platypuses when they pursued their traditional lifestyle, but no-one else eats platypuses.

The young of a platypus is not given any specific name, and it is certainly not a "puggle", as some websites proclaim. Although 'puggle' is a common name, it is not officially the name for a baby platypus.

Platypuses do not have teeth; they have grinding plates in their jaws instead of teeth.

No other animals make up the platypus. It is a unique animal in its own right.

It is not made up of ducks, beavers, otters or any other such creature as popular myth tends to perpetuate.

No. Platypuses are found only in Australia's eastern states. They are endemic to Australia, including the island state of Tasmania.

Platypuses do not eat fish. 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.

A platypus is often called a queer animal because of its appearance. The platypus looks a little like an otter with the bill of a duck and webbed feet, so it's a mixture of different animals traits, seemingly.

Weirdness is in the eye of the beholder. To a platypus, another platypus is probably very attractive.

no they evolved naturally or where created by god or both

No. This would be illegal, foolish and detrimental to the good of the platypus.

One is real, and one is not. There is no such thing as a spoon billed platypus.

The mother's internal organs get back to their right size and shape very quickly.

The baby is more contented and so is the mother. This is because the hormone prolactin is responsible for the 'let down' when the milk rushes into the breast, and it's effect is mildly euphoric.

The baby can't be allergic to mother's milk.

Mothers milk changes taste with what she eats and breast babies are therefore used to different flavours and tend not to become finicky eaters as toddlers.

Mother gets a lot more rest because when baby needs a feed, she has to sit down or lie down to do it, and those quiet times are good and peaceful for both mum and baby.

The baby can be fed as soon as it asks for a feed. A bottle baby has to wait until the feed is made up and got to the right temperature, and the baby may cry hysterically. After all that crying, when the bottle is given, the baby may gulp it too quickly and swallow a lot of air which could cause the baby to vomit up the entire feed or else have to be winded for ages. This means that everyone in the family has disrupted sleep. A breastfeeding mum usually wakes just before baby needs a feed, and the baby doesn't have to cry so everyone gets more sleep. After the first few weeks, even mother stays semi asleep as she feeds the baby and in the morning couldn't really tell you how many times she fed the baby during the night.

If breastfeeding is done exclusively - no pacifiers/dummies, no juice, water or food - the mum's ovaries are suppressed for several months. This is nature's way of spacing babies. If you don't want another pregnancy though, it is better to use a barrier method of contraception, or possibly a progesterone injection that protects against pregnancy for 3 months. It usual for mothers breastfeeding exclusively to have no menstrual periods.

Baby can't be allergic to mothers milk.

Baby hardly ever gets sick. If the baby starts to get sick, the mother's mature immune system makes antibodies against that sickness and they go through her milk to her baby and her antibodies fight the germ her baby has got. If you doubt this, ask any children's medical ward how many breast babies they have as inpatients, and how many bottle babies they have on the ward. (Medical here means not surgical. Surgical wards deal with other conditions that have nothing to do with immunity) Most hospitals will tell you that a breast baby as a medical inpatient is unusual, and that is because mother's mature immune system protects the baby.

The nappies at worst smell mildly of plain yoghurt and are not offensive.

Breast babies don't get constipated.

Breastfeeding is much cheaper as there is no formula and other feeding paraphernalia to buy. And as the baby gets continuing immunity from mother's mature immune system, you have less medical bills and less antibiotics to buy. You save on vitamins too, as the baby gets all he needs from his mother. All the extra calories a breastfeeding woman needs in 24 hours are to be found in two slices of buttered wholewheat bread.

There is a world of difference between a human baby and a calf. A calf stands as soon as it is born, and doesn't have a brain that is capable of learning much. A human baby's body takes time to grow and become strong, and the use of the brain is very different to that expected of a calf. Human milk has a factor that actually creates new brain cells. Each species of mammal has milk that is right for that species, and human milk is the right stuff for human babies.

The way a baby suckles a breast is different to the way a baby suckles an artificial teat. The bottle baby uses a sucking action with their cheeks. A breast baby uses his lips to seal around the nipple and his gums go up and down, emptying and refilling the ampulla behind a mother's nipple, and his tongue licks the milk into his mouth. These different actions exert pressures in the soft, developing mouth structures as they form. Babies breastfed exclusively until at least 6 months of age develop straighter tooth alignment, reducing the necessity of orthodontics as teenagers. Dentists say that they can tell if a patient up to the age of 25 was breastfed because they can see the difference.

As a breastfeeding mother is more rested, less frazzled, has no periods and a more contented baby, she has more time and energy for her man and other important people in her life. Her internal organs recover from birth more quickly and she loses her pregnancy weight and gets her figure back quickly too.

There are loads more advantages than these I've mentioned, so do some research if you are interested. There is a lot of literature available.

Platypuses are carnivores. They are predators; they eat small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish. During summer, they eat more than during winter, in order to build up reserves of fat.

Echidnas feed almost exclusively on termites, although they also eat ants. Echidnas have large claws for breaking open termite mounds (which, in much of Australia, are made from mud). They have long sticky tongues, about 15cm long, with which they catch the termites. Echidnas also look for termites under old, rotting logs, their preferred locale.

Platypuses live in burrows which they dig in the banks of freshwater creeks or rivers in eastern Australia, in bushland and rainforest. They feed on invertebrates and crustaceans that live on the riverbed or creek bed.

Because of its the only mammal that lays eggs, scientists believed. It was man made.

The platypus is semi-aquatic because, although it must live and shelter on dry land, it needs to hunt for its food in creeks and rivers. Platypuses cannot breathe underwater; nor can they search for food on land.

No, you must be 18 or hve parental permission.

Platypuses are only small creatures. 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 around 2kg. 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. Its feet are not permanently webbed, as the membrane that stretches to help it swim swiftly retracts for the purpose of digging.

A platypus has dark brown fur over most of its body, with a grey undercoat. Its belly is gold-coloured or silky grey. Its feet are dark brown to black, and its bill is a slate grey colour.

Platypuses live along Australia's eastern coast and inland, from far north Queensland to the island of Tasmania in the south.

Maps showing platypus distribution can be seen at the related links.

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 rain forests.