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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
What do platypuses do when they don't have sufficient food and water?
Sometimes, during drought seasons, the water level in a platypus's river or creek will get too low to sustain enough food for the platypus to survive. When this happens, the platypus must move to a new waterway. Platypuses do not move quickly over land, and they can become dehydrated, dying before they reach a new creek or river. Some do survive the move.
What does the platypus do for breeding?
The platypus breeding season is spring and summer, from about September through to February, sometimes extending to March. At breeding time, the female digs a chamber at the end of her already long burrow, ready to receive the eggs.
Platypuses reproduce via sexual reproduction. They are mammals which reproduce by laying eggs, which hatch into young platypuses that initially feed off mothers' milk. The platypus is a monotreme, or egg-laying mammal, just like the echidna, and quite unique to Australia. Platypuses lay eggs in a chamber at the end of a burrow dug into a riverbank or next to a creek.
Their young, once hatched, drink milk from grooves that run down eitehr side of the mother's abdomen, rather than attaching to teats.
Why do platypuses need duck bills and beaver tails?
Platypuses do not have duck bills and beaver tails.
The bill of a platypus is quite different in size and functions to a duck's bill. The bill of a platypus is vital to its survival. The platypus uses its 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.
Platypuses also do not have beaver tails. Although both creatures have flat tails, there are some differences.
- Their tails are a different shape.
- The beaver's tail is broader and flatter than a platypus's, and covered with special scales. The platypus's tail is covered with dense fur.
- Their tails serve different purposes. The beaver's tail is used to help propel it along in the water. The platypus's tail is used as a rudder, for steering when it is swimming.
The platypus is known overseas as the "duckbilled platypus" or just the "duckbill", but in Australia it is just commonly called the 'platypus'.
The platypus is sometimes known as the duckbilled platypus, because its bill loosely resembles that of a duck, and is of a shape not found on any other mammal.
Are platypuses carnivores herbivores or omnivores?
Platypuses are not omnivores, but carnivores. They eat tiny insect larvae and other invertebrates, shrimp, shellfish and annelid worms they find on the bottom of creeks and rivers. They do not eat plants of any description.
Does a platypus have a mating ritual?
Yes. Platypus courtship rituals involve the male chasing the female around in a circle. They have a complex system of side-passing, under-passing and over-passing each other, until the male finally grasps the female's tail in his bill, and they continue circling tightly until mating occurs.
Which part of a male platypus is venomous?
The male platypus has a hollow spur on each of its hind ankles, which is attached to a venom gland within its thigh. The platypus delivers the venom through the ankle spur.
Do you perhaps mean an echidna ? If you do, it is a type of anteater that lives in Australia. It is a monotreme, a very primitive type of mammal that lays eggs. There are only three monotremes : the duckbilled platypus and two species of echidna that live in different parts of australia.
When does a platypus lose its teeth?
When a baby platypus is hatched, it has tiny, rudimentary teeth which fall out within a few weeks. These teeth are believed to be a throwback to the platypus's ancestors, as fossilised platypus teeth have been found. Adult platypuses do not have teeth. Teeth are not necessary for platypuses, as they "chew" their food by grinding it between horny plates on their upper and lower jaws.
You want to transform into perry the platypus but how can you do it?
well you see its very hard! first you need to get a platypus. second take out its DNA. third take out its brain and its heart. forth ask a scientist about a disecter and the protons you need to build a machine that can change your life sight to the platypus and change its form into perry the platypus. fifth use your science abilities to use the extraction point of the protons and use your own idea of what it looks like and draw a picture what you think perry the platypus has in his body and use it and store it in your brain. sixth once you've got that done use the machine to duplicate your body. WARNING! you can only change back to normal after one month! seventh once you duplicate your body you look like perry the platypus but you do not talk like him. the only way to talk like perry the platypus is to... one, record his voice on tape then listen to it every night. two, download it while duplicating yourself. three, forget about it. here's the silly part, be careful do not get your beak stuck in the ground its embarrassing seriously! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! somebody can catch you on video tape or take a picture of you ha ha ha-ha ha! LOL! well have a fun perry the platypus day.
IF YOU NEED HELP CONTACT Thomas Wald if you want to turn into perry the platypus.
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What is the collective name for a group of platypuses?
There is no collective name for a group of platypuses. Platypuses are solitary animals and do not live or move in groups.
Is a platypus poisonous and does it eat its babies uncooked?
Platypuses are not poisonous, as for anything to be "poisonous" it must be ingested.
Adult male platypuses have a venomous spur on their hind ankle through which they deliver a powerful, agonising venom.
Platypuses never engage in cannibalistic behaviour. They feed on invertebrates on the floor of the creeks and rivers in which they hunt for food.
What does banks mean in The platypus lives along the banks of rivers?
The bank of a river or creek is the earth that lines the edges of a waterway, forming a barrier, or levee, to stop the water from flowing out of the river (except when it "breaks its banks" during a flood). The platypus digs a burrow that may extend up to 30 metres into this levee. The entrance of the burrow is above the waterline, not underwater. This is the platypus's home.
Is the platypus solitary or found in groups?
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.
Why do echidna and platypus belongs to phylum mammalia and not to any other phylum?
Mammalia is not a phylum, but a Class. The phylum is Chordata.
Platypuses and echidnas are mammals because, like all mammals, they feed their young on mothers' milk. This is despite them being egg-laying mammals. The defining trait of a mammal is to have mammary glands, to produce milk for its young. The platypus and the echidna produce their milk from numerous glands over their underside, and the milk runs into grooves from which the young drink. This is unlike other mammals which have teats.
There are other reasons why echidnas and platypuses are classified as mammals, such as having skin, hair or fur, being warm blooded and breathing via lungs (not gills).
Most mammals are also characterised by the following anatomical features, which the echidna and platypus share:
- A flexible neck with seven cervical vertebrae
- Mammals also show enhanced neocortex development
- Sound is produced by the larynx (a modified region of the trachea)
- limbs are oriented vertically
- The mammalian heart has 4 chambers
- Internal temperature is generally high
- Egg development occurs in the uterus (excluding monotremata)
- They have sweat glands
- A single lower jaw bone
- Diaphragm
- Three bones for a middle ear
- Give birth to young alive
- Feeds milk to its young
- Has hair on its body
No, they do not.
The main reason being because the platypus is native to Australia. And there are no tigers native to Australia.
However if tigers were native to Australia, it is likely they would hunt and eat platypuses if they were very hungry. To a tiger, the platypus wouldn't be very filling, so they would prefer larger prey, like a kangaroo.
Why is platypus not an oviparous animal even though it lays eggs?
The platypus IS oviparous. Along with the echidna, it is an egg-laying mammal. Any egg-laying animal is oviparous rather than viviparous, which means giving birth to young outside of the body.
Can a platypus be found in Woodlands Texas and where?
No: a platypus cannot be found in Woodlands Texas. Platypuses are native to eastern Austalia. They are not found anywhere else in the world, and as of 2014, there are no platypuses in zoos outside of Australia.
Yes. every part of the plant is very poisonous. it has a powerful cardiac toxin and ingestion of one leaf can kill a child.
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How do platypuses adapt to their environment?
A platypus has webbing between its claws on its feet. 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 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. It does not have teeth, but hard bony plates which it uses to grind the food.
Male platypuses have a venomous spur on each of their hind legs, through which they can deliver a venom strong enough to kill a small dog, and to cause almost paralysing agony to an adult human. It is possible that a very small child could be killed (though a tiny child would be unlikely to engage in behaviour threatening to a platypus), and it is also possible that the shock of the pain in an unhealthy, weakened adult could well result in their death. Also, platypus venom contains a protein which lowers blood pressure, also inducing shock.
Platypuses also have certain behaviours to aid the survival of their young. 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.
How do you encourage a female beta to lay eggs?
The only thing that will encourage a female Betta to release her eggs is a male Betta with a proper nest.
No. Platypuses are nothing like beavers, and they do not build dams. Platypuses do not have teeth, so would be unable to gnaw wood to build dams. Their grinding plates are purely for grinding their food.
For shelter, platypuses dig burrows in the banks of the freshwater creeks, rivers or lakes where they do their hunting. These burrows can be over 30m in length (100 feet). The entrances are disguised beneath overhangs, or by tree roots and other vegetation. Platypuses have webbed feet with retractable webbing which enables them to dig their burrows.
