What Kind Of Animal Is A Duck Billed Platypus
Platypus facts
The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is i of the most unusual creatures in the brute kingdom. The platypus has a paddle-shaped tail, like a beaver; a sleek, furry body, similar an otter; and a flat beak and webbed feet, like a duck. In fact, the first fourth dimension a stuffed platypus was brought from Australia to Britain, people couldn't believe it was a real creature; they thought a trickster had sewn two animals together, co-ordinate to London'due south Natural History Museum (opens in new tab).
Platypuses (which is the correct plural form, not "platypi") are among the few venomous mammals. Males have a spur, connected to a venom-secreting gland, on each hind foot. More venom is secreted during mating season, leading researchers to think that the spurs and venom assistance males compete for mates, according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory (opens in new tab). The venom is non life-threatening to humans, but it can crusade severe swelling and excruciating hurting.
Related: Egg-laying mammals and peacock spiders: Run into some of Commonwealth of australia's weirdest creatures
Size and advent
Developed male person platypuses tin range between near 15.7 inches to 24.8 inches (39.8 to 62.9 centimeters) long, from the tip of the bill to tip of the tail, according to the Australian Museum (opens in new tab). Adult females range from 14.v to 21.six inches (36.eight to 54.8 cm) long. Adult males counterbalance well-nigh 1.7 to 6.6 lbs. (0.8 to iii kilograms) and females weigh about 1.three to 3.7 lbs. (0.6 to 1,7 kg).
Scientists have found fossils that suggest that ancient platypuses were significantly larger than the mod variety, at nearly three.three feet (1 meter) long, Live Science previously reported.
Platypuses take dense, thick fur that helps them stay warm underwater. Most of the fur is dark brown, except for a patch of lighter fur near each eye and lighter-colored fur on the underside. Under ultraviolet lite, still, platypuses' drab brown fur glows green and blueish, Live Science previously reported (opens in new tab). It'southward possible that this biofluorescence helps reduce the animals' visibility to predators, merely the eerie glow may serve niggling or no ecological function. Scientists are even so investigating this question.
A platypus's front feet have extra peel that acts like a paddle when the creature is pond. When platypuses are on state, their webbing retracts, making the claws more than pronounced, according to National Geographic (opens in new tab). The animals walk on their duke to protect the webbing, according to a 2001 written report in the Journal of Experimental Biology (opens in new tab).
The bill of a platypus resembles that of a duck and has a smooth texture that feels similar suede. Information technology is also flexible and rubbery. The skin of the bill holds tens of thousands of sensory receptors that help the platypus navigate underwater and detect move of potential food, such equally shrimp, according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
Venom
Male platypuses carry venom glands, located about their pelvises, that connect to hollow spurs on their hind legs, according to a blog written past Bianca op den Brouw, (opens in new tab) a toxinologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Young females as well accept these spurs, but they lose them in the first year of life.
The venom glands of adult males fluctuate in size throughout the year, reaching their maximum size during convenance flavour, when males use their venom to compete for mates. To inject its venom, a male wraps its legs around its victim and drives the spurs through the animate being's flesh, according to op den Brouw.
The venom itself contains a cocktail of more than a dozen proteins that belong to three major classes of toxins, op den Brouw wrote. This venom is non lethal to platypuses or humans, but it causes swelling and excruciating pain, and it can disrupt wound healing and the function of cell membranes, she noted. In humans, the pain from a platypus sting can be treated with nervus blockers, which cake specific nerve cells from sending signals to the brain.
Habitat
Platypuses live in Australia in a range that extends from western Victoria to almost equally far n every bit Cooktown in Queensland, meaning they occupy a large stretch of the east and southeast declension of the country, according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory (opens in new tab). The creatures tin can too be found on Tasmania and King Island, as well every bit on Kangaroo Island, where platypuses were introduced by humans in the early on 1900s.
Platypuses occupy freshwater systems — including river basins, lakes, ponds and streams — throughout their habitat range. The animals spend about 10 to 12 hours a nighttime in the water, hunting for food; they are most active during nighttime and dusk, because they are nocturnal. They can stay underwater for simply xxx to 140 seconds, the Australian Museum notes.
During the day, they hide out in burrows on the shore, where earthen tunnels open up into oval-shaped underground chambers, according to the San Diego Zoo (opens in new tab). Platypuses likewise take shelter under rock ledges, roots and droppings, according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
Though they exist on but one side of ane continent, platypuses weather many climatic extremes. They have been found in plateaus, lowlands, tropical rainforests, and the cold mountains of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. Platypuses' waterproof, thick fur keeps them warm in chilly conditions, and their large tails shop extra fat for energy, according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
Diet
Platypuses are carnivorous, which means they swallow meat simply not plants. They hunt for their nutrient in the water where they live. As they swim, they detect food forth the muddy bottom of the river, stream, swimming or lake using only their sensitive bills, since the animals actually close their eyes, ears and nostrils while foraging underwater, according to the Australian Museum.
When platypuses find something interesting, like insect larvae, they scoop it up in their bills, shop it in their cheek pouches and swim to the surface. The animals too swallow shrimp, swimming beetles, water bugs and tadpoles, likewise as the occasional worm, freshwater pea mussel or snail. Platypuses accept fifty-fifty been observed eating cicadas and moths that they take hold of at the water'southward surface, according to the Australian Museum.
Later coming up from a dive, platypuses float atop the water and chew their nutrient using "grinding plates" in their mouths. The animals sometimes pick up mud and sand in their cheek pouches, and as they eat, they expel this inedible sediment, along with backlog water, through grooves in their lower jaws, according to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
Baby platypuses
Most mammals requite birth to alive young. Platypuses, however, lay eggs. Mammals that lay eggs are known as monotremes, and besides the platypus, the only other monotremes are echidnas, or spiny anteaters, according to the Academy of Melbourne. Echidnas are establish only in Commonwealth of australia and New Guinea.
When female platypuses are ready to take their young, they burrow inside the ground on the riverbank and seal themselves into tunnel rooms. Each female and then lays 1 to three eggs and places them betwixt her rump and her tail to continue them warm. Afterward about 10 days, the eggs hatch and the edible bean-size babies nurse for 3 to four months inside their burrow, according to the Australian Museum.
Around the time of weaning, babe platypuses tin swim on their own, co-ordinate to the Australian Platypus Conservatory.
Taxonomy
Here is the taxonomy of the platypus, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (opens in new tab) (ITIS):
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Grade: Mammalia
- Order: Monotremata
- Family: Ornithorhynchidae
- Genus and species: Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Conservation status
Platypuses are not endangered, just the International Union for Conservation of Nature (opens in new tab) (IUCN) lists them as "near threatened," significant the species may be vulnerable to extinction in the nigh time to come but does not currently qualify as threatened.
The platypus was first listed as most threatened in 2016 after scientists observed a decline in the species' overall numbers, "although the reject is poorly divers and inconsistent beyond the platypus's range," the Australian Platypus Solarium notes on its website.
Additional resources and readings
- Watch this video virtually how scientists discovered that platypuses glow under UV light, from SciShow .
- Explore the scientific debate over whether platypuses were existent animals, in the book "Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the Globe (opens in new tab)" (Smithsonian Books, 2001), past Ann Moyal.
- Learn about platypuses' weird genetic quirks, via NPR.
Bibliography
Australian Platypus Conservancy. (n.d). Platypus biology. Australian Platypus Conservancy. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://platypus.asn.au/biological science/ (opens in new tab)
Australian Platypus Conservancy. (n.d.). Distribution & numbers. Australian Platypus Salvation. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://platypus.asn.au/distribution-numbers/ (opens in new tab)
Divljan, A. D. A. (2021, June sixteen). Platypus. The Australian Museum. Retrieved Feb 11, 2022, from https://australian.museum/larn/animals/mammals/platypus/ (opens in new tab)
Fish, F. E., Frappell, P. B., Baudinette, R. V., & MacFarlane, P. M. (2001). Energetics of terrestrial locomotion of the platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Journal of Experimental Biological science, 204(four), 797–803. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.204.iv.797 (opens in new tab)
Integrated Taxonomic Information Organization (ITIS). (n.d.). Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw, 1799). Integrated Taxonomic Data Organization. Retrieved Feb 11, 2022, from https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=552524#null (opens in new tab)
International Spousal relationship for Conservation of Nature. (n.d.). Platypus. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved Feb 11, 2022, from https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/40488/21964009 (opens in new tab)
National Geographic. (northward.d.). Platypus. National Geographic. Retrieved February eighteen, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/platypus (opens in new tab)
op den Brouw, B. (2020, July 17). Broad world of venom - the platypus. The University of Melbourne, Schoolhouse of Biomedical Sciences. Retrieved Feb 11, 2022, from https://biomedicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/department-of-biochemistry-and-pharmacology/engage/avru/blog/wide-world-of-venom-the-platypus (opens in new tab)
Osterloff, E. (2018). The platypus puzzle. Natural History Museum. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://world wide web.nhm.air conditioning.united kingdom/discover/the-platypus-puzzle.html (opens in new tab)
San Diego Zoo. (n.d.). Platypus. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/animals/platypus (opens in new tab)
This article was terminal updated on Feb. 18, 2022, by Live Science staff writer Nicoletta Lanese.
Originally published on Live Science.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/27572-platypus.html
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