After an egg hatches, the tiny baby platypus (called a puggle) drinks its mothers milk, which comes from tiny openings in the mothers belly. Together with the four species of echidna, the Duck-billed Platypus is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. It may have a range of up to 7 kilometres (4.4 miles) with males home ranges overlapping with those of 3 or 4 females. It tends to habitat bridges rivers and the riparian zone (the interface between land and a flowing surface water body) for both a food supply of prey species and banks where it can dig resting and nesting burrows. The Platypus is generally regarded as nocturnal and crepuscular (animals that are primarily active during the twilight), but individuals are also active during the day, particularly when the sky is overcast. Platypus Habitatĭuck-billed Platypuses live in burrows and spend much of their time in freshwater ponds and streams. The Duck-billed Platypus can store food in cheek pouches while it is hunting underwater. Platypus are carnivores (meat-eaters) and they use their bill to strain its tiny prey, like crayfish, worms, insects, snails and shrimp from muddy water. Experiments have shown that the Platypus will even react to an ‘artificial shrimp’ if a small electrical current is passed through it. When disturbed, its prey would generate tiny electrical currents in their muscular contractions which the sensitive electro receptors of the Platypus could detect. The electro receptors could be used to distinguish live and dead objects in this situation. The Platypus feeds by digging in the bottom of streams with its bill. This would explain the anima’s characteristic side-to-side motion of its head while hunting. The Platypus can determine the direction of an electric source, perhaps by comparing differences in signal strength across the sheet of electro receptors.
Platypus eggs skin#
The electro receptors of the Platypus are located in rostro-caudal rows in the skin of the bill. Their electro reception is the most sensitive of any monotreme. Platypuses are Monotremes, the only mammals known to have a sense of electro reception (the ability to receive and make use of electrical impulses). The Platypus has extra bones in the shoulder girdle which are not found in any other mammals. There is a great variation in size depending on the region in which the Platypus lives, and this pattern does not seem to follow any particular climate rule and may be due to other environmental factors such as predation and human residence. Males average 50 centimetres (20 inches) total length while females average 43 centimetres (17 inches). The weight of the Duck-billed Platypus varies considerably from 700 grams (1.54 pounds) to 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) with males being larger than females. Platypuses have been heard to emit a low growl when disturbed and a range of other vocalisations have been reported in captive specimens.
Their nostrils are located on the dorsal surface of the snout while the eyes and ears are located in a groove set just back from it. Unlike a birds beak (in which both the upper and lower parts of the beak separate to reveal its mouth), the snout of the Platypus is a sensory organ with the mouth on the underside. The webbing is more significant on the front feet and is folded back when walking on land. These are features that appear closer to those of a duck than to those of any known mammal. The Duck-billed Platypus has webbed feet and a large, rubbery snout. The Duck-billed Platypus uses its tail for storage of fat reserves, an adaptation it shares with the Tasmanian Devil. Their legs sprawl out to the side of the body, giving it a lizard-like walk. It has thick, waterproof fur all over its body (except for the feet and bill) that insulates the animal and keeps it warm. The Duck-billed Platypus is about the size of a cat.
The Platypus is one of the few venomous mammals whereby the male Platypus has a spike on the hind foot which delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans, they also use it to kill small animals in self defence.
The Duck-billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania.
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