Platypus

The egg-laying, milk-giving, duck-billed oddity

The platypus is the strangest animal in the world! It has a duck's bill, a beaver's tail, webbed feet, it lays eggs — yet it's a mammal! When scientists first saw one, they thought it was a hoax. Underwater the platypus closes its eyes and senses its prey's electric signals with its bill. The male has a venomous spur on its leg.

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a monotreme (egg-laying mammal) of the rivers of eastern Australia; with the echidnas it is one of just 5 surviving species. A skin sent to England in 1799 was dismissed by scientists as a fake. Its bill has 40,000 electroreceptors: with eyes, ears and nostrils closed, it detects the electric fields of its prey's muscles. The female lays 1–3 eggs and incubates them for 10 days; she has no nipples — milk seeps through her skin and the young lick it up. Males have venomous spurs on their hind legs — enough venom to kill a dog. Its genome mixes bird, reptile and mammal features. Numbers are falling due to droughts and dams.

Fun facts

• Seeing the first platypus, scientists thought someone had sewn a duck's bill onto a beaver.
• A platypus gives milk but has no nipples — the milk seeps through its skin.
• A platypus's bill senses electricity — it hunts with its eyes closed.