PUBLISHED
Nov 01, 2023
-------------- POPULAR
This name comes from the Greek words for "flat" and "foot".
The platypus, also known as Ornithorhynchus anatinus, is a kind of animal that comes from Australia
and Tanzania. It is the only animal left in its family and is definitely one of the weirdest
creatures in the world.
You might know about the platypus, but these 10 unusual facts will definitely amaze you.
1. The platypus mommy does not have any bumps to feed her babies with milk.
All animals that give birth to live young make a special liquid called milk to give their babies
food. The platypus is one of these animals. However, the females do not have nipples. Instead, the
milk comes out of glands near the mother's armpits, and the babies will lick the milk right off of
her fur.
When we first look at dolphins, it seems like they don't have nipples. But, when scientists took a
closer look, they found that cows actually have nipples that are pointed inward. These nipples are
hidden behind a slit, and the calf can touch it to make the milk come out.
2. They have a sense that helps them detect electricity in a similar way as sharks.
When a platypus is underwater, it closes its eyes and ears. This makes it hard to move through water
and locate food, but electroreception helps with that.
The platypus can detect electric signals, which helps them to hunt even when it is completely dark.
They are even able to hear the heartbeat of the animal they are hunting. Platypus and echidnas are
the only types of animals that can sense electricity. Electroreception is more common in sharks,
cockroaches, and bees.
3. It seems to be a animal that resembles a beaver, but it has the ability to lay eggs like a bird.
The platypus is a special kind of animal called a Monotreme. It is a type of mammal, but instead of
having babies, it lays eggs. There is only one other animal in the Monotremata family that is still
alive, and it is called the echidna.
The word monotreme comes from Greek and means "single hole". This talks about the one hole that the
platypus (and echidna) use to pee and poop. The same opening is also used for reproducing.
This opening is called a "cloaca" and is found in birds, reptiles, and amphibians. However, it is
not commonly found in mammals.
4. The Males are poisonous.
The platypus looks very adorable, but if you get too near it, you will get a painful shock.
The boy platypus has venomous stings on its back legs that can kill small animals. Even though it
won't cause death, the venom can make you feel really intense pain that can last for days or even
weeks.
Hospitals wouldn't be very helpful if you were stung because the pain doesn't get better with
morphine, a strong pain medicine.
5. The males have a two-headed penis.
Yes, what you just read is true. A male platypus has a special body part called a penis that has two
heads. Scientists are still figuring out why the penis exists and where it came from, but it seems
to be influenced by the female’s body structure.
The girl platypus has two ovary parts, but only the left one makes eggs. The front part of a man's
penis is longer on one side, which could be helpful for reaching a woman's egg and increasing the
chances of making a baby.
6 They do not have teeth or a stomach.
Just like birds, a platypus doesn't have any teeth inside its beak. However, the food it likes the
most, crustaceans, need a little bit of chewing. So, the platypus picks up small pieces of dirt and
gravel along with the crustaceans to help in breaking them into smaller pieces.
If you thought that the swallowed food goes into the platypus' stomach, you would be mistaken. The
platypus and echidna do not have a stomach.
Scientists have found that the platypus, like many other animals, doesn't have a gene for a stomach.
The gene that is responsible seems to be linked to pepsin and gastrin, which are enzymes in the
stomach that help with digestion.
Instead, when the platypus eats, the food goes straight from the tube that brings food to the
stomach to the part where it is broken down and absorbed.
7. They glow blue-green under UV light.
The platypus' fur can glow after it is exposed to light, particularly sunlight. The fur then gives
off a blue-green light.
Until now, opossums and flying squirrels are the only other mammals that have been observed doing
this. Scientists don't know exactly why this phenomenon is helpful, but they think it might help
hide from predators or be seen by other creatures that are awake at night (although some scientists
disagree with this idea).
8. The plural of “Platypus” is “Platypodes”.
There has been some discussion about what the word "platypus" should be called when referring to more
than one. Because the name comes from Greek, the plural form should be "platypodes". But because
this way of making words plural is unusual, the Oxford dictionary says that "platypuses" is also
okay.
9. They use their tails like camel humps.
The platypus has a thick and waterproof fur coat that helps it stay warm in cold water. However, in
order to survive long periods of cold weather, it also has the advantage of storing fat in its tail,
which can be used as a source of energy.
Camels have a way to survive when there is not enough food in the desert. They store fat in their
humps instead of their tails.
10. They have 10 sex chromosomes.
If you remember some high school biology, you likely know that humans have two special chromosomes
called "X" and "Y". These chromosomes decide if a person is male or female. When we see two "X"s
(XX), it means the person is a biological female. If we see XY, it means the person is a biological
male.
A platypus has ten sex chromosomes. A man has 5 sets of XY chromosomes while a woman has 5 sets of
XX chromosomes. At first look, there could be more genders. For instance, if there are 3 pairs of XX
and 2 pairs of XY, would that result in a male or female. However, all five sets appear to be
connected during the process of producing sperm, and only two sexes are created through
reproduction.
Scientists are very confused about the complete genes of the platypus.
Overall, the platypus is a confusing animal that makes us all wonder. This creature has a lot of
traits that are similar to birds and reptiles, which makes us question if it can really be called a
mammal.
Even though people like to put animals into different groups, sometimes nature surprises us and
shows that there is still a lot we don't understand.
THIS POST HAS 0 COMMENT(S)