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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 ...
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 is one of the few living mammals to produce venom. The venom is made in venom glands that are connected to hollow spurs on their hind legs; it is primarily made during the mating season. [1] While the venom's effects are described as extremely painful, it is not lethal to humans.
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 ...
Family Ornithorhynchidae (platypus) Genus Ornithorhynchus (platypus) Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) Family Tachyglossidae Genus Tachyglossus (short-beaked echidna) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Genus Zaglossus (long-beaked echidnas) Western long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijnii) Eastern long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni)
The monotremes (egg laying mammals) represent the order of extant mammals most distantly related to humans. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is indigenous to eastern Australia; the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is indigenous to Australia and Papua New Guinea; whereas the long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijni) is restricted to Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya.
Viviparous mammals are in the subclass Theria; those living today are in the Marsupialia and Placentalia infraclasses. A marsupial has a short gestation period, typically shorter than its estrous cycle , and gives birth to an underdeveloped ( altricial ) newborn that then undergoes further development; in many species, this takes place within a ...
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