Platypuses

Neither the male nor the female really sweats milk. The female produces milk for her young, but all mammals' mammary glands are just modified sweat glands. The difference is that female platypuses exude milk from several glands over their abdomen and since they do not have teats, the young have to drink it from the grooves into which it collects.

A platypus's burrow is its primary means of shelter. Quite simply, a platypus needs a burrow as its home. During breeding season, the female digs out a chamber at the end of her burrow, where she lays and incubates her eggs.

Platypuses in captivity have been recorded as living to at least 16 years. However, because they are such reclusive creatures, little research has been done on platypus lifespans in their natural state.

Whilst research has not yet established the life span of a platypus in the wild, it is believed to be about 10 years. It is estimated that, due to predation by goannas and snakes, platypuses in their natural habitat probably live closer to 4-5 years for males and 6-8 years for females.

The platypus is nothing like a bird.

It is an egg-laying mammal. The eggs it lays are soft-shelled and leathery, unlike a bird's eggs, which are hard-shelled. There are some general characteristics which are similar. Birds and platypuses are both air-breathing endothermic vertebrates. Birds and platypuses both have a cloaca, a single vent for both reproduction and waste.

You don't. Platypuses are a protected species and may not be hunted or killed.

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.

Until the early twentieth century, platypus were hunted for their fur. They are now protected by law throughout Australia. Never the less platypus still accidentally caught in yabby traps and drowned and regulations on the use of yabby traps were changed from 1 November 2003 to reduce their impact on native animals.

Platypuses are mammals so, like all mammals, they feed their young on mothers' milk.

The platypus is currently in no danger of extinction. Since being protected by law, it has a very good chance of survival.

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.

Ants are eaten by many animals. Worms, spiders, anteaters and more. Even ants sometimes eat there own kind.

Platypuses hide in long burrows for protection. They disguise the entrance to the burrows by digging them beneath overhangs on the riverbank, or beneath tree roots. If platypuse are underwater and sense a predator outside, they will hold their breath and remain motionless for 8-10 minutes, waiting for the predator to leave. They are also nocturnal, ding most of their noting at night.

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.

Yes. The platypus is endemic to Australia, meaning it is not found anywhere else.

No. There are no killer platypuses/platypi. The male platypus possesses a poisonous spur on his hind leg which can incapacitate a human, causing agonising pain, but it is only enough to kill a small dog.

Yes and no. The 'forest' biome is generally not known as forest in Australia, as the country's native eucalyptus bushland is quite different to what is commonly thought of as forest.

Platypuses live throughout eastern coastal Australia and its island state of Tasmania, particularly within heavily wooded and protected regions. Platypuses live in native eucalyptus bushland as well as tropical, sub-tropical and temperate rainforests.

Yes. On average, platypuses can hold their breath for up to two minutes when hunting underwater, or longer if they remain still. However, in flood times, platypuses have been known to drown - particularly baby platypuses - when they are swept out of their burrows by floodwaters.

Platypuses do not give birth: they lay eggs.

The platypus breeding season is spring and summer, from about September through to February, sometimes extending to March.

Platypuses use their feet for more than two tasks, but the main tasks, apart from walking, are swimming and burrowing.

Platypuses have 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.

A platypus can do many unique things compared to other animals.

To catch their under water food, their ears and eyes shut. 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 are born with a spur on the inside of each hind leg. However the female's falls off after the first year, while the male's spur is attached to a venomous gland in its thigh. It is not known what function this spur serves, but it is believed that the male's spur is used when it competes for territory or for a mate. It is also used for self-defence against predators.

Platypuses spend a great deal of time in the water, making hundreds of dives each day while they hunt for food. They are effective swimmers and divers, and they have webbed feet to enable then to swim strongly underwater while they hunt.

The webbing on a platypus's feet is retractable. This means that the webbing actually pulls back to expose the claws so that the platypus can dig its burrow in the riverbank or creek bank. The platypus is able to dig a burrow that may extend over 30 metres (100 feet) into the riverbank.

No. Adultmale platypuseshave venomous spurs on their ankles, which is different to being poisonous. Poison is ingested; venom is injected or administered by another similar method. Apart from several species of shrews and the Cuban solenodon, platypuses are the only venomous mammals.

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.

People who have been "spurred" by a platypus report that the pain is strong enough to cause vomiting that may last for days, weeks or sometimes even months. The pain cannot be relieved by morphine and other standard pain-killing drugs. It seems the only way it can be relieved is through anaesthesia of the main nerve from the spur site.

Female platypuses do not have venom, but they are born with spurs. These spurs fall off by the time the young female is about a year old.

They don't.

The platypus has a leathery snout, sometimes called a bill. It is nothing like a duck's bill or a bird's beak. 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/snout 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.