Platypus

Platypuses have webbed feet, a bill like a duck's, a tail like a beaver's. The females lay eggs like a snake's and feed their young milk.

What an odd creature a platypus is!

A platypus is a mammal, but it lays eggs. There are only two mammals that do this. The echidna is the other.
Mammals that lay eggs are called monotremes.

The platypus has a leathery bill that looks like a duck's. It has fur and a tail like a beaver's. It has webbed feet for swimming, with claws for digging. The female lays eggs that are like a reptile's, and when the young hatch, she feeds it with milk from her body.

When the first English settlers sent reports and the stuffed body of a platypus to England, the scientists there thought it was a prank!

Habitat and Distribution (where it is found)
Platypuses live beside freshwater rivers, creeks and lakes in eastern and south- eastern Australia, stretching from Queensland down to Victoria and Tasmania. They dig long burrows in the bank, with the entrance to the burrows above the water level and well hidden.

Appearance and behaviour
Platypuses have webbed feet and a broad, flat tail about 12 centimetres long that helps them swim. As they swim, platypuses close their ears and eyes. Platypuses are most often out looking for food before dawn and for a few hours before sunset. They feed on creatures that live in rivers, creeks and lakes. They feel for food with their leathery bill, which has special nerves in it that senses the movement of prey.

The platypus scoops up worms, shrimp, insect larvae and other small water animals. The food is stored in cheek pouches until the platypus swims to the surface to eat it.

When they eat food, platypuses crush it with tough, horny pads on their upper and lower jaws. They don't have teeth.

A platypus' body can be up to 45 centimetres long. They can weigh up to 2.3 kilograms. Males are larger then females. Male platypuses also have a sharp, hollow claw-like spur behind the ankles on its hind legs. The spurs are connected to poison glands. Male platypuses may use them to protect themselves from predators and to fight other male platypuses during mating season.

The platypus has webbed feet for swimming. On land, the webs turn back to uncover claws on the feet which it uses to dig a long burrow in the banks of rivers and creeks. Some burrows can be as long 25 metres. Each platypus has its own burrow.

Life cycle
Females build a nest of damp grass and leaves in a chamber at the end of their long nesting burrows when it is time to lay eggs. The dampness helps keep the temperature of the chamber right for the eggs and young. She carries plants from the water's edge with her tail curled around them. After mating with a male platypus, (between June and October) a female seals herself into the nesting chamber by blocking the entrance with soil and lays one or two eggs. She lies curled up with the eggs between her body and tail to protect them until they hatch. The eggs hatch in about ten days and the young stay with their mother for up to four months. They drink milk that oozes from their mother's body, sucking it from her fur. Their sucking is rather like the action of a vacuum cleaner because a female monotreme does not have nipples like other mammals do.

If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, R & Sydenham, S. The Platypus [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au [2003]