Platypus
The platypus ("Ornithorhynchus anatinus") is a small mammal of the order "Monotremata". It lives in eastern Australia.
It spends some time in water, and some time on land. There are only four types of mammals which lay eggs. One is the platypus. The other three egg-laying mammals are kinds of echidnas. A mammal that lays eggs is called a monotreme.
The scientific name for a platypus comes from 2 Greek words: "ornithorhynchus" which means "bird nose" and "Anatinus" which means "duck". First, scientists gave the name "platypus" (flat foot) to its group. But this name was already used for the ambrosia beetle, a beetle which lives in wood.
What sort of animal is it?
The platypus looks similar to a beaver with a brown, furry body and wide, flat tail. Unlike a beaver, it has webbed feet (joined toes), which are good for swimming. Its nose is large and rubbery. The platypus is sometimes "duck billed platypus" because of this nose. It is similar to a duck's bill (mouth). Platypuses can be big or small. The larger platypus live in Tasmania while the smaller ones live in Queensland. Adults can be less than or up to. Its body can be from to long. Its tail can be from to long. Males are about one-third (1/3) larger than females.
The male platypus has sharp spines on his legs called "ankle spurs" which contain a mild poison. It will not kill humans, but the poison has been known to kill small animals, such as dogs, and cause pain lasting as long as 4 months. The amount of poison increases during the breeding season, but scientists are not sure why this happens. It is probable that the poison increases, to protect the platypus's wife, its offspring, and itself.
How platypus live.
The platypus sleeps during the day. It moves mostly at night. It is a very good swimmer and spends much of its time in the water. It keeps its eyes shut when swimming, using only its other senses (hearing, feeling etc). The toes on its feet are joined. When it swims, it pushes itself along by moving the front two feet. The tail and back feet help it to turn left or right, but does not make it faster.
The platypus eats other animals. It eats worms; insect larvae, which are wormlike insect babies; freshwater shrimp; and yabbies, which are a kind of freshwater crayfish. It digs these animals out of the bottom of the river with its nose, or catches them while swimming. Its nose can sense many things that other animal noses cannot. The platypus can sense electricity from other animals. No other mammal can do this. The platypus can hunt without using its eyes.
When on land, the platypus lives in a short, straight, oval holes, like a rabbit burrows. These holes are between and long. It makes these holes in the riverbank a little above the water. It likes them hidden under roots. When a female platypus is pregnant (ready to have babies), the female makes much larger holes, up to long. She blocks the tunnel with earth at several places. At the end of the tunnel, she builds a nest out of reeds (river grass) for her eggs.
The platypus lays eggs in its nest. When the babies come out of the eggs after about 10 days, they hold on to the mother. The mother makes milk for the new babies. The platypus does not have nipples, but milk comes through small openings in the skin. The young platypus drinks the milk from the mother's skin while she lies on her back. At 6 weeks the babies have fur and are able to leave the burrow for short trips. After 4 months they no longer need their mother's milk.
Where platypus live.
The platypus lives in small streams and rivers over a large area of eastern Australia. The map above shows this with dark purple. It has been seen in alpine lakes in Tasmania in the south, and north in Queensland as far as the Cape York Peninsula in tropical rain forest rivers.
In the past, platypuses lived in South Australia but they no longer live there. There are platypus on Kangaroo Island, but these were brought to the island in an attempt to save animals people thought might become extinct. There are very few if any platypuses left in most the Murray-Darling Basin. The water there is no good because people used it to grow plants, and cleared the trees from the land. It is strange that the platypus does not live in some healthy rivers. It does live in some less healthy coastal rivers, for example the Maribyrnong River in Victoria.
Platypus are difficult to see in the wild. They dislike areas with people, spend most of their time underground or under water, and sleep during the day. At Eungella National Park in Queensland, there are spots on the river with viewing areas where wild platypus can usually be seen each evening.
The past and the future.
Europeans saw the first platypus in the 18th century. They sent the skin of a dead platypus to Britain, so scientists could study it. At first, the scientists thought the skin was a joke, because they thought no animal could look so strange. They thought an Asian had made it from pieces of different animals.
National Geographic magazine had a story on the platypus in 1939. Many people all over the world had never heard of the platypus. The story told how hard it is to raise platypus babies in zoos. (Raising is helping little babies to grow.) Even today, humans have raised only few platypuses. David Fleay at the Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria had the first successful zoo raised platypus in 1946. He nearly did it again in 1972 at the David Fleay Wildlife Park at Burleigh Heads, Queensland, but it died at 50 days. Healesville raised another in 1998 and again in 2000. Taronga Zoo in Sydney bred twins in 2003, and had another birth in 2006.
The platypus will probably not die out completely in the near future. Ecologists say that it is "secure but faces future threat" (safe now but not in the future) or "common but vulnerable" (there are a lot now but they are not safe). They say this because people can make the water unsafe for the platypus.
Also, platypus is the name for a music project featuring John Myung, from Dream Theater, Derek Sherinian, former Dream Theater member, Ty Tabor, from King's X, and Rod Morgenstein. Was also a pet in the present day tv show Phinias and Ferb on Disney channel.
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