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The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family Ornithorhynchidae and genus Ornithorhynchus , though a number of related species appear ...
The platypus has an average body temperature of about 31 °C (88 °F) rather than the averages of 35 °C (95 °F) for marsupials and 37 °C (99 °F) for placentals. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] Research suggests this has been a gradual adaptation to the harsh, marginal environmental niches in which the few extant monotreme species have managed to survive ...
The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the American true anteaters or to hedgehogs. Their young are called puggles. Echidnas evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago, descending from a platypus-like monotreme. [4] This ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to life on land. [4]
A platypus bill may look like a duck’s bill, but it has a secret ability. The bill contains receptor cells that detect the electric signals made by all living things. As it swims in the water ...
The platypus doesn’t fit into any particular category: it’s a mammal, but it lays eggs like a reptile. It has a duck-like bill and webbed feet, but its otter-like body ends with.
This contrasts with the modern platypus, where adults are entirely toothless. It has been theorized that the loss of teeth in the platypus was a geologically recent event, occurring only in the Pleistocene (after over 95 million years of tooth presence in the ornithorhynchid lineage) after the migration of the rakali ( Hydromys chrysogaster ...
The platypus, a duck-billed, beaver-tailed mammal that adores the water, is so beloved in its home country of Australia, the nation has featured the species on its 20-cent coin.
The caniforms include the Caninae, Procyonidae, bears, mustelids, skunks and pinnipeds that occur worldwide with immense diversity in their morphology, diet, and behavior. Etymology [ edit ]