# Platypus

Region: Oceania
Source: https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/platypus/

The platypus is a truly strange animal with a duck's bill, a beaver's tail, and an otter's feet. It's a mammal, but it lays eggs! It finds food by sensing electric signals in the water with its bill.

## Quick facts

- **Habitat**: It lives in the rivers and lakes of eastern Australia.
- **Diet**: It eats water insects, shrimp, and worms.
- **Size and weight**: Length 40–50cm, weight 0.7–2.4kg.
- **Lifespan**: About 12 years
- **Conservation status**: Near Threatened
- **Fun facts**: Males have venomous spurs on their feet! That's very rare for a mammal. / It closes its eyes and finds food underwater using only its bill.

## Learn more

### An egg-laying mammal with a duck's bill and venomous spurs

The platypus, nature's most perfect and bizarre hybrid creation

- It has a duck's bill and webbed feet.
- It has a broad, beaver-like tail.
- It's a mammal, but lays eggs instead of giving live birth.

### The strangest mammal in the world

It nurses its young with milk, yet doesn't give birth to them

- It's a rare egg-laying mammal classified as a monotreme.
- The mother keeps the egg warm for about 10 days until it hatches.
- With no nipples, it secretes milk through sweat glands in the skin to feed its young.
- Its milk contains a special antimicrobial protein (MLP) that prevents bacterial infection.

### A gluttonous hunter that closes its eyes to hunt

It uses a sixth sense underwater

- When it enters water, it seals its eyes, ears, and nose completely shut before diving.
- Its bill has 40,000 "electroreceptors" that detect the faint electrical signals given off by prey.
- It eats an enormous amount of food each day, up to 28% of its own body weight.
- With no true stomach, its esophagus connects directly to its intestines.

### Fur that glows under UV light

A surprising 2020 discovery that stunned scientists

- Under UV light in the dark, its fur glows a beautiful blue-green color.
- This is thought to be a form of camouflage, absorbing UV light to help it avoid predators' eyes.
- This trait mainly appears in nocturnal animals active at night or dawn.
- It may be a primitive trait inherited long ago from the common ancestor of all mammals.

### A hidden venom behind its cute looks

The male's hind feet carry a fearsome weapon

- Only males have a sharp spur on the hind foot that can inject venom.
- It's mainly used when males compete with each other during mating season or defend their territory.
- It's not lethal to humans, but causes excruciating pain that even morphine can't relieve.
- Its venom is chemically similar to reptile venom, yet it's a remarkable result of independent evolution in a mammal.

### A fossil that survived from the age of dinosaurs

It carries over 100 million years of evolutionary history

- It's one of the oldest mammals on Earth, having existed since about 115 million years ago.
- While humans have 2 sex chromosomes, the platypus has an astonishing 10.
- The only egg-laying mammals (monotremes) left on Earth are the platypus and the echidna.

## More animals from this region

- [Kangaroo](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/kangaroo/)
- [Koala](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/koala/)
- [Emu](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/emu/)
- [Wombat](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/wombat/)
- [Quokka](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/quokka/)
- [Tasmanian Devil](https://spinplanet.app/animals/en/tasdevil/)

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All images and videos were made with AI to capture each animal's features, so they may look different from the real animals. The animal information comes from public sources and may contain mistakes.