Meet the Platypus a Very Strange Mammal That Lays Eggs!

After a short break I am back with a new strange animal, inspired by a recent exchange I had with @janusface in the comments section of his latest post. 

Today's creature is something many would argue is the world's weirdest mammal. And they would have some strong points to make. The animal I am talking about is the Platypus, a semiaquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia.

Platypus (credit)

As I have mentioned in another post about a month ago, my favorite weird mammal is the naked mole rat. Still, this is just a personal preference and believe me the platypus will definitely blow your mind!

But what makes the platypus so strange? To be honest, this mammal is so odd I really don't know where to start from, so I will begin with the most obvious, its appearance.

The Looks

(credit)

Just have a good look at the guy. It looks like a crazy genetic experiment went wrong! Not surprisingly, this duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists in 1800s when they first saw a specimen. They literally thought it was an elaborate hoax, made of several animals sewn together! [1]

But the weird looks are only the beginning...

It's a Mammal...But It Lays Eggs!

Platypus eggs (credit)

The duckbilled snout is not the only common trait this mammal shares with birds! Like birds, platypuses lay eggs! 

The platypus and the closely related echidna are the only surviving members of the Monotremata order, a group of primitive mammals that much like reptiles and birds, they lay eggs rather than giving birth to young-lings. 

Furthermore, their urinary, defecatory, and reproductive systems all end up into a single duct, called the cloaca again much like birds and reptiles! In case you wonder, the penis only carries semen, urine is excreted through the cloaca.  [2]

And speaking of penises, make sure to check my 9 Incredibly Weird Animal Penises post. You won't regret it!!

Baby Platypus Sleeping (credit)

They Can Feel The Electricity Around Them

If I asked you to name a few senses you would probably say sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, the 5 "basic" senses, although there are a few more. But if you were a platypus you would name one more and that is electroreception.

Electroreception is the biological ability to perceive natural electrical stimuli. The most popular example of animals with this ability are sharks but there are many other fish with this ability.

As for mammals, electroreception is an extremely rare trait. Out of the more than 5400 confirmed mammalian species, only the platypus, the closely related echidna and the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) have the super power of sensing electricity! [3]

Interesting Fact: Electro-reception is the only sense the platypus uses when foraging in the water. When it dives it closes its ears, eyes and nose, so no sense of sight, smell, or hearing!

They Produce Venom When Horny!

Venom-delivering spur in a male specimen (credit)

If I ask you to tell me one venomous animal, you will probably think of a snake, a scorpion or something like that. That's totally normal as in nature, venomous mammals are extremely rare. 

And guess what.. The platypus is again one of them! As a sidenote, some other venomus mammals are the cuban solenodon, the hispaniolan solenodon, some shrew species and the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus). 

While both male and female platypuses are born with ankle spurs on their hind limbs, only the male's spurs are capable of delivering venom. Interestingly, venom is secreted only during the breeding season, suggesting that the main purpose of the venom is for competition between males and not for protection against predators. [5]

Although the venom is powerful enough to paralyze small animals, it's not strong enough to kill a human. That's the good thing. The bad thing is that this is one heck of a weird poison!  

The pain caused by the venom is so excruciating and that the victim might be left totally incapacitated for hours! According to the limited cases studies, the pain doesn't respond to morphine, and may last from days to weeks even months! [5]

Here's an interesting anecdotal story of how nasty the sting of the platypus can actually be:

In 1991, Keith Payne, a former member of the Australian Army and recipient of the Victoria Cross (Australia's highest award for valour) was struck on the hand by a platypus spur, while trying to rescue the stranded animal. He described the pain as worse than being struck by shrapnel. One month later he was still experiencing pain in that hand. In 2006, Payne reported discomfort and stiffness when carrying out some physical activities, such as using a hammer. [1,6]

(credit)

The End

So these are the main weird stuff about the platypus I wanted to cover. But believe me, this is just the beginning!

I highly suggest you to do more research on the creature, the list of oddities is endless! For example, males have a two headed penis and females don't have.. tits! The milk is released through pores in the skin (like sweat) and it pools in grooves on the abdomen, allowing the baby platypuses to lap it up!

If my post got you interested I highly suggest you to visit the platypus wiki entry. It's a true gem!

Now, before I close my post allow me to share what is probably the world's cutest video, featuring what else...a platypus!

Oooowwwwwww (credit)

World's Cutest Video

In case you wonder, this video is shot at the Healesville Sanctuary. For a fee of about 150 AUD you can be the one petting these cute little guys! Visiting this place is actually one of the main reasons I want to visit Australia one day!

That's it for today, see ya in my next strange animals post!

TL;DR Version For The Lazy

The platypus is one of the world's strange mammals because:

• Duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed animal
• Mammal that lays eggs 
• One of the few mammals with electroreception
• One of the few mammals to produce venom
• The only mammal to combine the above in the same package, how efficient!
• Other physiological oddities, e.g. no tits and double-headed penis :O

References & Further Reading

1. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus
2. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme
3. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21795271
4. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1191811
5. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus_venom
6. Books.google.gr/

  My dear readers, thank you for reading today's article. Hopefully, you found it interesting enough to follow me, @trumpman. You may also want to check my strange animal series where you get to discover some of the world's weirdest animals!  Here are the last 3 weirdos of the series: 

1. Notaden bennettii: The Super Cute Holy Cross Frog
2. Scientists Baffled by Weird Jelly Blob. Find Out How You Can Help Them!
3. Lexias Pardalis: The Caterpillar That Wanted to Be a Peacock!

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