They produce milk, but don’t have nipples.įemales have mammary glands for milk production, but no teats.

They hatch from their eggs using an egg tooth, are completely blind and hairless. This means under a blacklight they glow! No one knows why yet. They store both food and gravel in their hamster-like cheek pouches which they take to the surface to munch on.Īmazingly, just last year (2020) scientists discovered that they are biofluorescent. Instead, they use gravel to grind down their food. Their duck-shaped bills don’t have teeth. Instead, their gullet goes straight to their intestines. Like fish, they don’t have an acid-producing stomach. They swim along the bottoms of steams, using the electroreceptors in their bills to find their prey. When they hunt their nose, eyes and ears are closed.

Platypus don’t use sight or smell for hunting. The receptors for this are found in their bill. They use this to hunt prey hiding in the mud of stream floors. They are one of the very few mammals that use electroreception, aka the ability to sense the electricity created by the movement of muscles. Males have an ankle spur that delivers venom strong enough to kill dogs and cause excruciating pain in humans. While it might look like their tails are for swimming, they are in fact used primarily for storing fat, like a camel’s hump. Their large beaver-like tail is used for fat storage. They are well-adapted for this, with webbed feet for swimming and fur that is waterproof to keep them warm.

This means that they live both in water and on land. Both lay eggs, which later hatch live young. There are only two kinds of egg-laying mammal left on the planet today.Īlmost every mammal gives birth to live young, except for the platypus and echidna. This group contains only 5 species still alive today: platypuses and 4 species of echidna. This is one of the three main groups of living mammals. They are part of a group called “monotremes”. The appearance of platypuses is so odd that the first European naturalists who studied a preserved one thought they were fake and made of other animals stuck together.Ģ. People didn’t believe the platypus was real. They are classified as near-threatened by the IUCN, which has recommended that it is upgraded to a threatened species, due to habitat destruction and declining numbers in all states. However, they are now a legally protected species in Australia. Platypus are rare, elusive and were historically extensively hunted for its fur. Life span is around 17 years in captivity, but it’s thought to be less in the wild. They are nocturnal, meaning they are active mainly at night, and also crepuscular meaning they are also active during twilight (sunset and sunrise). Their predators include birds (hawks, owls, and eagles), snakes, water rats, goannas (a large lizard), and crocodiles! They hunt using their bills which sense both movement and electric signals produced by moving animals. They hunt fresh-water crustaceans, such as shrimp and crayfish. They spend most of their time in the water, but also have burrows in the side of riverbanks where they rest. They inhabit small streams and the surrounding areas. They are native to Eastern Australia, ranging from the colder highlands to tropical rainforests. Hawks, owls, eagles, snakes, water rats, goanna and crocodiles They are so odd, that the first scientists to encounter them thought they were fake.ĥ0cm (20in) in length, Females: 43cm (17in)Ĭrustaceans (freshwater shrimp and crayfish), insect larvae It’s famous for its odd appearance, with a duck-shaped bill, a beaver-like tail, and the feet of an otter. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semi-aquatic, egg-laying mammal that is native to Australia, and often referred to as the ‘duck-billed platypus’.

Duckbill platypus