Platypus

The platypus is a small, furry, egg-laying mammal from eastern Australia with a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and feet like an otter. When the first preserved specimen reached Britain in the late 1790s, naturalists suspected it was a hoax and examined it for stitches.^[1] They found none, and the platypus has been considered real ever since, though some people are still checking.

Features

The platypus is one of only a handful of mammals that lay eggs. The male has a sharp spur on each back ankle that can deliver venom, which is very rare in mammals. Its bill can sense the tiny electrical signals made by the muscles of its prey, so it hunts underwater with its eyes, ears and nose shut.^[2]

In 2020 researchers reported that platypus fur glows blue-green under ultraviolet light. Nobody knows why. The platypus has not explained this either, and given its record, it is not expected to.

Classification

The platypus has been placed in its own family, its own order and, on several occasions, in a drawer marked “later”. Taxonomists describe it as the most complete list of features ever fitted into one animal, and agree that if it were designed by a meeting, everyone got their item on the agenda.

• Lays eggs: yes.
• Makes milk: yes (through patches of skin; no nipples).
• Venom: yes (males).
• Glows: yes, in UV.
• Explanation: no.

See also

• Meeting – how it looks to have been designed
• River – where it lives
• Wombat – another Australian with an unusual feature

References

1. Seam, S. (1799). Checked for Stitches. Sceptic Press.
2. Bill, D. (2003). “Electric Noses: A Survey”. River Science 2: 1.
3. Glow, U. V. (2020). “It Glows. Why?” Unanswered.