Most commonly found in Eastern Australia, the platypus is an oviparous vertebrate mammal with a duck bill, beaver tail, and an otter foot.
This unique mammal, is one of two monotreme animals in the world. It lays egg instead of giving birth and feed its young with milk. It is nocturnal which means it is noramlly active during night time.
The average platypus weighs at roughly 2.4 kg and measured up to 50 cm in length. The males are usually larger than the females.
The platypus has been known to sweat milk out from pores along its stomach to feed their babies
Here’s a clip of this adorable fur-like creature:
Other than being able to produce milk-sweat, this mammal can also see through electricity known as as electrolocation. They are able to hunt underwater by sensing electric signals coming from the muscle contraction and heart beat of their prey. They are able to sense it using their duck-like bills.
Since they are semi-aquatic, they can live under water for nearly 10 hours at a time. This is due to a high concentration of myoglobin (an oxygen-binding protein) inside their lungs.
The platypus swim by peddling using their front legs and steering with their tails
If that is not unusual enough, they are also venomous. The males can produce venom which is attached to a spur on its hind food. However, it is not just for hunting or defense, rather they usually use it to show dominance over other males during mating season.
The venom can kill small animals and cause excruciating pain for humans
For now, the platypus is not in danger of extinction. However, it is still labeled as ‘Near Threatened” under the IUCN Red List. This is due to their habitat being disrupted caused by dams, irrigation, pollution, netting, and trapping. Hopefully, we would be able to tone down on human activities and development to give room for other creatures to live in this world.
