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PLATYPUS FACTS DOWNLOAD

Females make a burrow to nest their eggs in.They don’t have nipples so their young suck milk from the fur around the mother’s mammary glands. However, they do nurse their babies after birth and provide them with milk. In reproduction, female platypuses are unlike most mammals because they lay eggs.They can be found on logs or in the water grooming themselves. Platypuses are known to pay attention to their grooming.A platypus tail is mainly used for four things: 1) to store fat in case of food shortage, 2) to push away dirt while digging, 3) to gather leaves and make nests and 4) to incubate eggs. A platypus’ tail may look like a beaver’s tail but its use is different.It is suggested that venom is one of their mechanisms to beat competition during breeding season.

Researchers have found that it is only during mating season when their venom glands gets activated. Unlike most reptiles, their venom is not found in their teeth but in spurs on their ankles. It is a venomous mammal so it’s best not to pet them! Only the males are venomous.

Its esophagus connects directly to the intestines. A platypus needs to eat at least 20% of its total body weight in a day. It gathers food and stores it in its cheek pouches before eating it on the surface. It uses mud and gravel to chew and munch on bits of food that its toothless mouth wouldn’t be able to chew otherwise.

Its diet consists of mainly invertebrates such as worms, insect larva, shrimp, crayfish and occasionally frogs and fish.

Its bill is very useful in hunting for food because it has electroreceptors that can detect the electrical currents generated by its prey.

A platypus’ bill is leathery and highly sensitive.

When walking on land, its feet fold back. A platypus closes its ears and eyes underwater and uses its bill to sense its environment. It is commonly found in streams and rivers.

They are endemic to Australia, particularly eastern Australia and Tasmania.

Its average size now is approximately 1.5 feet long but it used to measure up to 3 feet long.

The platypus’ first ancestors were much bigger than modern-day platypus.

In his book, The Naturalist’s Miscellany, he wrote that “Of all the Mammalia yet known it seems the most extraordinary in its conformation exhibiting the perfect resemblance of the beak of a Duck engrafted on the head of a quadruped.”

Upon its discovery in 1799, English zoologist and naturalist George Shaw thought the platypus was a fake animal because of its odd appearance.

It is also called the “duck-billed platypus”, “duckbill”, “watermole” and “duckmole”. The name platypus comes from the Greek word platupous meaning “flat-footed”. Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. Platypuses are one of the five surviving species of monotremes.

The platypus is the only existing member of the Ornithorhynchidae family.

PLATYPUS FACTS DOWNLOAD

See the fact file below for more information on the platypus or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Platypus worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment. Its bill and feet are like those of a duck’s, its body like that of an otter’s, and its tail like that of a beaver’s. Its physical appearance is very distinct and unique. Download the Platypus Facts & WorksheetsĪ platypus is a carnivorous, semi-aquatic mammal that lays eggs.