You ’ve heard the joke : “ After God fetch up making all the animals , He took the leftover parts and made the duckbill . ” While the platypus does not , in fact , have an actual beaver ’s buttocks nor a duck ’s poster , genetical analysisproves that the platypus is fuddle well beyond its external mismatch / mish - mashed characteristics .
1. Fur
Mammals are hirsute by definition , and platypuses are hairy than most . They waterproof their dense pelt by preen it free of oil and schmutz , and the blank fur bit as a form of dry suit , trapping air hole of air to keep duckbill warm underwater . ( Yes , lamentably , “ platypuses ” is the official plural for platypus , though “ platypi ” is used in the Romance name for some insects . Or maybe you preferplatypodes ? )
2. Mammaries
Like all mammals , platypuses give suck their unseasoned on milk produced by mammary gland . Thanks to 2008’sPlatypus Genome Project , we hump that platypus genes that are responsible for milk production read a bunch like the Milk River - making genes in other mammals , humans included . Scientists now think that mammal have been producing Milk River for over 166 million years , which would mean milk production has been an instrumental evolutionary rudder in the development of modern mammal . Haha : udder rudder . Except …
The duckbilled platypus does n’t have teats . or else , it oozes milk from mammary “ patches , ” which are kind of like areolae without the nipples . Other animals that harbor via mammary fleck ? Oh , just the four coinage of echidna ( spiny anteaters ) , which , together with the platypus , make up the intact orderMonotremata , also known as “ egg - lay mammal . ”
3. Eggs
Ornithorhynchus anatinus lay coriaceous , reptile - like testis , but their genes state us that their ballock - making genes are more mammalian — in some ways . Other nut - associate gene characteristics are portion out with bird , amphibians and fish , while still others are only share with skirt and Pisces the Fishes , andthosegenetic traits only partially share .
Much like marsupial ( kangaroos , possums , and other pocketed animals ) , platypus young are born ( i.e. hatch from their leathery eggs ) in a semi - fetal Department of State , and continue developing throughout the breast feeding process . In fact , echidna keep their young in a pouch after hatching ; platypuses instead dig deep , complex tunnel in which to safely build their nests . How ?
4. Feet
… With their taloned feet , which are also webbed for swim . Who aver workings mammy ca n’t have it all ?
5. Eyes
The platypus ’ heart alone have been the issue of much publication , possessing ( again ) a arial mosaic of characteristics find in disparate animate being lodge . For instance , they have a pole / cone rest that most close resembles that of other mammals , but also have a “ double cone shape ” matter pass on , a feature article not find in eutherian mammals ( mammalian that give giving birth to fully developed unseasoned ) or marsupials . Meanwhile , their eyeball are enclosed by a type of cartilage more like that seen in birds , reptiles , amphibian , sharks , rays , and lungfish .
6. Poison!
Male Ornithorhynchus anatinus have pretty mingy built - in arm : spurs on their hind peg that are load with a malice potent enough to kill a Canis familiaris and debilitate a homo for days . While there are a few other types of venomous mammal out there , this case of venomous stinging could be considered a more reptilian - comparable trait ; that is , the spite itself is made up of organic material similar to the venom in reptile . However , according to the duckbill genome , that organic material gets made via variations in unlike genes than in reptiles . Reptilian result , unambiguously platypusal cause .
7. Sexy bits
The sex of the platypus is watch by a set of ten chromosomes , which , consort to platypus geneticist Jennifer Graves , “ are absolutely , completely dissimilar from all other mammal . We had not expect that . ” Each platypus sperm contains either all hug drug or all Y chromosomes . And the platypus X chromosome looks more like the Z sex chromosome that shows up in shuttle .
8. Electro-sensory system
In cause you were n’t yet convinced that the platypus is “ special ” : It hunts via a scheme name electroreception , which is incisively as rad as it sounds . The skin in its bill is highly sensitive , and its compounding of touch receptors and electroreceptors ( comparable to those found in galvanizing fish ) pick up on movements and scurvy - frequency electric signals in its target . That ’s why , even hunting underwater , at dark , the duckbill can still convey home the bacon . It ’s like , guys — go forth some cool stuff for the rest of us , maybe .
Primary image via Flickr userThe Eggplant .
