Ornithorhynchus anatinus

An odd assortment of left over bits combined to make the Platypus.


A lot of our Australian native animals are unique and many are just a tad strange, at the head of the strange list comes the Platypus, (sometimes referred to as the duck billed Platypus) when this animal was first discovered all who saw it were amazed in fact when the first specimens (dead) were sent to London the museum curator tried to dismantle it as he was convinced that it was a practical joke and had been assembled from body parts of other animals.
The Platypus has a body similar to a Beaver, webbed feet, a snout not unlike a ducks bill, a broad flat tail and the male has venomous spurs on his rear ankles.... it gets better though, this mammal lays eggs to reproduce, this led to the naming of a whole new species, Monotremes, which consists of the Platypus and 4 members of the Echidna family (also Australian) they remain in the mammal family because the female produces milk to feed her young, as she has no teats this milk is exuded through pores in her skin and lapped up by the young from pools that form on her stomach.
All that should have been enough for the poor old Platypus to bear without having the zooilogical name of Ornithorhynchus anatinus bestowed upon it, fortunately the much simpler name Platypus has stuck with it.
These small animals are excellent swimmers, they spend 30/40 seconds at a time rummaging with
their snouts for food in the mud and gravel of the stream bed near their home which is a burrow
dug in the stream bank just above the water line, these burrows are usually from 5/8 meters long.
Adults weigh between 1 and 2 kgs (2 to 5 lbs) are usually between 17" and 20" in length with the
males at the heavy and long end of the scales.
Truth really is stranger than fiction!!!
Now let me think what can I tell you about next? Oh I know... see ya soon.