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Platypuses
One of Australia's most unique and unusual native animals, the platypus is an egg-laying mammal which lives on land and hunts for food in the freshwater creeks and rivers of eastern Australia. Once incorrectly thought to be the most primitive mammal, it is now regarded as a superb example of adaptation. Questions and answers about platypuses can be found here.
996 Questions
Because they don't have properly formed nipples, so the milk oozes straight through the skin in certain spots.
A platypus is a small, streamlined monotreme with velvety fur. It is shy and elusive and difficult to see in the wild.
Has the platypus habitat changed over time?
The platypus's habitat has been affected by European settlement of Australia, just as the habitats of all Australian animals have been affected. land clearing for agriculture and settlement has resulted in increased water pollution levels, and turbidity. Fewer trees have meant less shelter to cover the entryway to the platypuses' burrows in the banks of creeks and rivers.
Does a platypus have a complete metamorphosis?
The platypus does not experience metamorphosis. It is not an amphibian.
When first born, the platypus is about the size of a bean and barely resembles its parent. However, like all young of mammals, it gradually develops the features of its parent as it grows. This is not metamorphosis - it is growth.
What protects a female platypus from its predators?
The only thing a female platypus can do to protect herself from platypus is to use her effective hiding strategies. The entrance to a platypus's burrow is disguised by tree roots or overhanging riverbanks, and a breeding female will create several earthen plugs along the length of her burrow to deter predators.
What group includes marsupials monotremes and placental animals?
Marsupials, monotremes and placental animals are members of the group known as mammals, or Mammalia.
How does the platypus carry its young?
The platypus does not carry its young. The young platypuses remain in the chamber, deep in the mother's burrow, until they are ready to learn to hunt.
Do platypuses eat slugs and oxalis?
No. Platypuses feed on small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae of caddisflies, mayflies and two-winged flies, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish. They do not eat plants at all, let alone something like oxalis, and they do not eat 'slugs'.
A cool fact about gopher tortoises?
An interesting fact about gopher tortoises is that these animals have front legs that are shovel-like and used for burrowing or digging. The burrow of a gopher tortoise can be 10 feet deep. This animal can live up to 60 years.
How many different breeds of platypus are there?
There is just one species of platypus: Ornithorhynchus anatinus.
How often do platypuses eat in the wild?
Platypuses eat constantly, spending most of their waking hours hunting for food. To catch their prey, platypuses must 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.
What features suggest that the platypus is a mammal?
Numerous features suggest that a platypus is not a fish.
- A platypus has fur; no fish has fur.
- A platypus uses a fully developed mammalian respiratory system to breathe, i.e. nose and lungs; fish receive oxygen via their gills.
- A platypus can move around on land, out of water, and its young are incubated and hatched on dry land; fish must reproduce in water.
- Platypuses are warm-blooded; fish are cold-blooded.
What special features does the platypus have to help it survive in its environment?
The platypus is uniquely adapted to live in a semi-aquatic environment. It has:
- 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. 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 two layers of fur. Underneath, the fur keeps the platypus warm, while the outer layer is 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.
Does the female or male Platypus have a poisonous spur?
Definitely the giant anteater would be much more dangerous. A platypus would only pose a danger if it is improperly handled. However, an angry or threatened giant anteater is capable of disemboweling a human with one swipe of its front claws.
No. Platypuses are carnivores. They are predators; they eat small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish.
To catch their prey they use the fine, sensitive electroreceptors on their bills, which detect the tiny electrical impulses made by these 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.
How do people get poisoned by the platypus's venom?
The only way to be injected with platypus venom is to aggravate a male platypus sufficiently so that it lashes out with its ankle spur.
Why does a platypus have such a weird name in french?
The French word for platypus - ornithorynque - is derived from the platypus's scientific name of Ornithorhynchus anatinus, the first word of which means "bird-like snout". This is because the platypus has an unusual snout which, to the average person, may appear to be like a duck's bill, even though it is very different.
Many are of the opinion that the platypus has been cross-bred from the duck, the otter and the beaver. Apart from the obvious, i.e. this is biologically impossible, the platypus does not exhibit the characteristics of any of these animals. Platypuses have remained virtually unchanged for as long as they have been in existence. 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.
Science is of the opinion that monotremes (like the platypus) which lay eggs and marsupials and placental mammals (which have live birth) diverged from a common ancestor about a 100 million years ago.
Do human and platypus have relationships?
No. Platypuses avoid contact with humans as much as possible.
Are platypuses solitary animals?
Platypuses are solitary animals, and do not live with any other species. They sometimes live in small family groups, but this tends to be only until the young are old enough to be independent. Males do not stay with the females.
