FACTS ABOUT DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS:

Duck-billed platypuses can't be real, can they? This small, amphibious mammal has a tail like a beaver, a body like an otter, walks like a reptile, has webbed feet and a beak like a bird, and it lays eggs! Platypuses are so strange looking, the first biologist to study them, in 1799, thought someone was playing a joke on him. There are thousands of them living in the swamps, lakes, and rivers of eastern Australia and parts of Tasmania. Duck-billed platypuses are small, shy animals. They have a flattened head and body to help them glide through the water. Their fur, dark brown on top and tan on their bellies, is thick and repels water to keep them warm and dry even after hours of swimming. They grow to about 18 inches (47 centimeters) in length and weigh around 3 pounds (1.5 kilograms). These water-loving mammals have fully webbed front feet to power themselves through the water. They use their back feet and tails to brake and steer. Their most remarkable feature is their amazing snout. It looks like a duck's bill, but is actually quite soft and covered with thousands of receptors that help the platypus detect prey. If you thought these marvelous mammals couldn't get any more bizarre, they have another trick in store: Male platypuses are venomous! They have a pointy spur on their hind ankles that connects to a venom sac in each leg. They mainly use these weapons in mating battles with other males, but they will attack with them if threatened. The poison is not strong enough to kill a human, but people who have been stung say the wound is extremely painful. Platypuses spend most of their time alone, sleeping or eating. They feed in the water at night, frantically swimming around with their eyes and ears closed, using their bill to search for their favorite foods: insect larvae, shellfish, and worms. Their mouth has no teeth. Instead, a pad of rough skin near their throat grinds up food before swallowing. During the day, platypuses sleep in burrows made with their long front claws. Each animal will maintain several burrows, usually dug in areas where there are overhanging branches and exposed roots to disguise the entrance. Platypuses are eaten by a wide array of Australian predators, including dingoes, foxes, large snakes, and even eels. A mother platypus will dig a very deep tunnel, called a nursery burrow, when she's ready to lay her eggs. These burrows sometimes extend 100 feet (30 meters) from the water. They have a leaf-lined den where the mother curls up to incubate her eggs. She blocks the entrance with several dirt mounds to keep water and predators from entering and will nurse her hatchlings there for up to four months. Platypuses are long-lived, surviving 20 years or more in captivity and up to 12 years in the wild. Scientists think these fascinating creatures are the earliest relatives of modern mammals. Recent studies show that they first evolved more than 112 million years ago, well before the extinction of the dinosaurs. Humans once trapped platypuses for their skins, but a law passed in 1912 ended such harvesting, and platypus populations are generally healthy. Fast Facts: The scientific name for the duck-billed platypus is Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Archaeologists have found the remains of an ancient platypus species in the Patagonian region of South America.

Platypuses are in a family of animals called monotremes. These are egg-laying mammals that have one body opening for reproducing and eliminating waste. Platypuses don't eat underwater. They store their food in their cheeks and bring it to the surface to eat. A platypus infant is about the size of a lima bean. Platypuses sleep up to 17 hours per day. Platypuses are one of only two mammal species that lay eggs. The other is the echidna, a small, spiny land animal that also lives in Australia. A platypus foraging for food can remain submerged for up to two minutes. A platypus will eat up to 30 percent of its body weight each day. Platypuses rarely make noise but can emit a high-pitched squeal when threatened. Like many reptiles, baby platypuses grow a temporary egg tooth to help them break out of their egg. Mother platypuses don't have nipples like most mammals. They suckle their hatchlings by secreting milk onto their fur from two milk patches on their stomach.