![]() ![]() Of course, its major claim to fame is being an egg-laying mammal, or monotreme. Interestingly, freshly hatched platypuses have molar-like “milk teeth," but these are shed around the time they leave the nesting burrow. These pads are replaced continuously throughout its lifetime. They (and their relatives the echidnas) don’t have teeth, but instead grind their food between mouth pads made of keratin. ![]() Platypuses stow their prey in cheek pouches, and swim to the surface to eat. Moving its head back and forth, it can find prey nearby and swiftly move in for the kill. Additionally, about 40,000 electroreceptors help them find the direction and distance of prey (its eyes and ears are closed while it’s underwater) by detecting electrical impulses generated by living creatures. This strange-looking snout is laden with “pushrods” that respond to stimuli like touch, pressure, sound waves, and motion. It is dark colored, nearly black in contrast to its chocolate-colored coat. Its signature “duck bill” is actually soft and pliable, not hard like a duck’s bill at all. Its rear feet serve as rudders and brakes. Its plump tail serves as a stabilizer during swimming and stores extra fat for energy. While lumbering somewhat awkwardly on land to protect the webbing on its feet, they are sleek missiles in the water. Those big webbed feet help propel them through the water, and the claws make digging burrows a breeze. Mostly brown on its body, there’s a flash of white fur beneath its eyes, and its belly is lighter in color, too. Long guard hairs protect the dense fur underneath, which stays dry even after a platypus has been in the water for hours. Platypus fur is waterproof and traps an insulating layer of air to keep its body temperature stable, even in cold water. Their dense fur makes fine insulation, both in the water and out. While their range is just one small area of the world, they weather many climate extremes (and fresh water sources) from toasty plateaus and rainforests, to the chilly mountainous regions of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. At a glance, it looks like a hodgepodge of animal pieces stitched together: a paddle-shaped tail from an otter, a sleek body covered in dense, chestnut-colored fur like a mole, a wide, flat duck-like bill attached in front of its little round eyes, and big webbed feet like a pelican.Īll these characteristics come in handy for its freshwater lifestyle-that bizarre looking bill is laden with thousands of receptors that help a platypusl navigate the murky depths and detect tiny movements of potential food like shellfish or insects. ![]() Similar spurs are found in many archaic mammal groups, indicating that this is an ancient characteristic for mammals as a whole, and not exclusive to the platypus or other monotremes.The platypus is as fascinating on the inside as it is on the outside! Among Australia’s most iconic wildlife, this semi-aquatic, egg-laying species is also one of the few venomous mammals. Since only males produce venom and production rises during the breeding season, it may be used as an offensive weapon to assert dominance during this period. The venom appears to have a different function from those produced by non-mammalian species its effects are not life-threatening to humans, but nevertheless powerful enough to seriously impair the victim. The female platypus, in common with echidnas, has rudimentary spur buds that do not develop (dropping off before the end of their first year) and lack functional crural glands. Venom is produced in the crural glands of the male, which are kidney-shaped alveolar glands connected by a thin-walled duct to a calcaneus spur on each hind limb. Oedema rapidly develops around the wound and gradually spreads throughout the affected limb. Although powerful enough to kill smaller animals such as dogs, the venom is not lethal to humans, but the pain is so excruciating that the victim may be incapacitated. The function of defensins is to cause lysis in pathogenic bacteria and viruses, but in platypuses, they also are formed into venom for defense. The DLPs are produced by the immune system of the platypus. While both male and female platypuses are born with ankle spurs, only the spurs on the male's back ankles deliver venom, composed largely of defensin-like proteins (DLPs), three of which are unique to the platypus. ![]()
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