Males are generally larger than females, and have two venom glands attached to spurs on their hind legs. Each foot contains five digits each consisting of a broad nail for the forefeet and sharp claws for the hind feet. ![]() They have short limbs, naked soles, webbed forefeet and partially-webbed hind feet. Two nostrils are located on top of their bills and their eyes and ears are on either side of their heads. They have bills that closely resemble those of ducks, and flat and broad tails resembling those of beavers (Grant and Temple-Smith, 1998). Duck-billed platypuses are stream-lined and elongated, they have fur ranging from medium brown to dark brown on the dorsal side and brown to silver-gray on the ventral side. They have a cloaca through which eggs are laid and both liquid and solid waste is eliminated. These species are unique among mammals in that they retain the ancestral characteristic of egg laying. ![]() Range elevation 1000 (high) m 3280.84 (high) ftĭuck-billed platypuses are one of three species of monotremes.( Grant and Temple-Smith, 1998 Pasitschniak-Arts and Marinelli, 1998) There have been records of them living in aquatic habitats at elevations above 1000 meters (Grant and Temple-Smith, 1998). The rivers and streams are usually less than 5 meters in depth (Grant and Temple-Smith, 1998). They prefer areas with steep banks that contain roots, overhanging vegetation, reeds, and logs (Grant and Temple-Smith, 1998). ( Grant and Temple-Smith, 1998 Pasitschniak-Arts and Marinelli, 1998)ĭuck-billed platypuses inhabit rivers, lagoons, and streams (Pasitschniak-Artsand Marinelli, 1998). Their milk oozes out of mammary gland ducts and collects in grooves on their skin-where the nursing babies lap it up or suck it from tufts of fur.The geographic range of Ornithorhynchus anatinus is restricted to the wetter regions of eastern Australia and Tasmania. But unlike all other mammals, monotremes like the platypus have no nipples. Like all mammals, monotreme mothers produce milk for their young. A platypus's bill can sense tiny electric currents produced by the bodies of small animals, helping it hunt in muddy water.Another monotreme? Echidnas-commonly referred to as spiny anteaters. The platypus is one of just a handful of mammals that lay eggs.When she does leave, she plugs the den opening with dirt. A female platypus usually lays only two eggs at a time and rarely leaves her stream-side den while nursing her young.Platypus babies cut their way out of the egg using a sharp "egg tooth" -a horny spike on the nose that is made of keratin, the same material as fingernails, that later falls off. Almost every other vertebrate, including most reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds, reproduces by laying eggs.Īlong stretches of its native rivers in eastern Australia, the female platypus digs a burrow near a stream and fills it with soft leaves as a place to lay eggs. Giving birth this way is extremely unusual among living mammals-but normal for most other animals. ![]() The platypus is a monotreme-a group where the females produce offspring by laying eggs. The unique nature of the curiously constructed platypus starts even before birth and marches on from there. Along stretches of its native rivers in eastern Australia, the female platypus digs a burrow near a stream and fills it with soft leaves as a place to lay eggs.
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