0
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
Do platypuses play with their young?
Platypuses are not particularly playful, and they do not play with their young. Females are excellent mothers, and they nurture their young carefully, doing what they can to protect them. They must leave the young in a chamber at the end of a burrow when they go out hunting for food in the creeks and rivers alongside of which they live. They teach their young to dive and hunt for food, but they do not play with them.
No one really know since platypuses are rare to find in the wild, and no one really know that much. But I'm this will be answered once we know more of it.
How do platypuses use their tail?
The tail of a platypus helps the animal to swim and acts as a rudder when it dives.
A platypus also 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.
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.
Does a platypus have a single jaw bone?
Yes. This is a mammalian characteristic. Like other mammals, the platypus has a single jaw bone.
Why doesn't the water from the stream get into mother platypus's nest?
All platypuses dig their burrows above the waterline of creeks and rivers. The entrance is not below the waterline.
During flooding, water does get into the burrow and the chamber, and baby platypuses that are still dependent on their mothers can be drowned in these instances.
The tail of a platypus helps the animal to swim and acts as a rudder when it dives.
A platypus also 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.
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.
Are Queensland platypuses different from Tasmanian platypuses?
Despite the temperature and climate differences, platypuses in Queensland are no different to those in Tasmania.
What is the other Australian marsupial other than the platypus that lays eggs?
The platypus is not a marsupial: it is a monotreme, which is an egg-laying mammal. Marsupials give birth to live young, and do not lay eggs.
The other monotreme, or egg-laying mammal, is the echidna.
No. You cannot even own platypuses in Australia unless you have a special licence. A limited number of universities or wildlife sanctuaries have licences to keep platypuses.
How would a duck shaped bill help the platypus collect its food?
The shape of the platypus's bill helps it to scoop up food from the mud and silt on the bottom of creeks and rivers.
What is the best logic for predicting how the young platypus is born?
They should hatch 10 days after the female lays them.
What do platypus feces look like?
A platypus's faeces are black in colour, and semi-solid. Most platypuses deposit their faeces in water, so they are unlikely to be seen - which is a good thing, as they are apparently very foul smelling.
Ornithorhynchus Anatinus is just the scientific name for the Platypus.
What Olympic mascot was a platypus?
Syd(short for Sydney) was the platypus mascot for the summer Olympic Games iwhich were held in Sydney, Australia in 2000. The platypus represented the water, while its fellow mascots, Millie the echidna and Ollie the kookaburra represented the earth and the air.
Platypuses are carnivores. They are predators; they eat small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish. They do not eat any type of aquatic vegetation.
Platypuses catch their food in the water. They may make hundreds of dives in a single day. The bill of a platypus 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.
Platypuses do not have teeth, but hard bony plates which they use to grind the food.
This coin does not exist. The platypus is on the 20c coin, and is worth 20 cents. The 5c coin has an echidna on it, and is worth five Australian cents.
What region does the platypus live in?
The platypus is native to the eastern states of Australia, which include Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. It is found in freshwater creeks and rivers within native bushland.
Where is the platypus found in Western Australia?
The platypus is endemic to eastern Australia. It is not found in Western Australia at all.
