Male platypuses have venomous spurs.Ī taxidermied platypus. The babies drink it up by sucking it out the folds of their mother's skin, or her fur. Instead, their milk is released out of mammary gland ducts on their abdomen. Female platypuses, however, don’t have nipples. Platypuses nurse without nipples.Īlthough platypuses are born out of leathery eggs, the babies nurse from their mother. In 2008, scientists deciphered the entire DNA of the duck-billed platypus and determined that, in accordance with the animal’s somewhat bizarre appearance, the platypus shared genes with reptiles, birds, and mammals. These egg-laying mammals get their name from the hole that serves as both an anus and a urino-genital opening. Platypuses are one of only five species of extant monotremes-just them and four species of echidna-which split from the rest of the mammals 166 million years ago. The platypus is a monotreme-which means “single hole” in Greek. Platypuses are no different: In 2013, the discovery of a single tooth helped researchers identify a prehistoric platypus that was more than three feet long-double the size of the modern animal. The ancient versions of a lot of modern animals, including penguins, were oversized monsters compared to the animals we know today. It’s so sensitive that the platypus can hunt with its eyes, ears, and nose all closed, relying entirely on the bill’s electrolocation. Jason Edwards/Photodisc/Getty ImagesĪ platypus’s bill has thousands of cells that give it a sort of sixth sense, allowing them to detect the electric fields generated by all living things. The platypus’s bill gives it a sixth sense.
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