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Duck billed platypus scientific name1/13/2024 The Commonwealth of Australia reveres this remarkable mammal so much that it honors the platypus with a place on its 20-cent coin. Baby platypuses hatch after 10 days and nurse for up to four months before they swim off and forage on their own. The female platypus lays her eggs in an underground burrow that she digs near the water’s edge. It has no teeth, so the platypus stores its "catch" in its cheek pouches, returns to the surface, mashes up its meal with the help of gravel bits hoovered up enroute, then swallows it all down. The platypus is the only extant representative or monotypic taxon of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), although many related species. They make up an evolutionary branch separate from the marsupials (e.g., kangaroos, koalas, and wombats) and placental mammals. Monotremes are a group of five extant mammals that lay eggs and have highly specialized mouth parts. The platypus was given its scientific name, Platypus anatinus (flat-foot duck), in 1799 by George Shaw, a parson turned Keeper of the Department of Natural. The bill also comes equipped with specialized nerve endings, called electroreceptors, which detect tiny electrical currents generated by the muscular contractions of prey. One of the reasons behind the platypus’s physiological uniqueness comes from its evolutionary history as a monotreme. The watertight nostrils on its bill remain sealed so that the animal can stay submerged for up to two minutes as it forages for food. The platypus is a bottom-feeder that uses its beaver-like tail to steer and its webbed feet to propel itself through the water while hunting for insects, shellfish, and worms. While the platypus generally inhabits freshwater rivers, wetlands, and billabongs Down Under, it is also known to venture into brackish estuaries (the combined fresh-and saltwater areas where rivers meet the sea). If its appearance alone somehow fails to impress, the male of the species is also one of the world’s few venomous mammals! Equipped with sharp stingers on the heels of its hind feet, the male platypus can deliver a strong toxic blow to any approaching foe. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family Ornithorhynchidae and genus Ornithorhynchus, though a number of related species. The platypus is a duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, egg-laying aquatic creature native to Australia. Habitat, Eastern Australia, Tasmania Order, Monotremes Family, Ornithorhynchidae Scientific name, Ornithorhynchus anatinus Characteristics, Ducks bill.
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