Platypus
Ornithorhynchus anatinus
The platypus is among nature's most unlikely animals. In fact, the first
scientists to examine a specimen believed they were the victims of a
hoax. The animal is best described as a hodgepodge of more familiar
species: the duck (bill and webbed feet), beaver (tail), and otter (body
and fur). Males are also venomous. They have sharp stingers on the
heels of their rear feet and can use them to deliver a strong toxic blow
to any foe.
Platypuses
hunt underwater, where they swim gracefully by paddling
with their front webbed feet and steering with their hind feet and
beaverlike tail. Folds of skin cover their eyes and ears to prevent
water from entering, and the nostrils close with a watertight seal. In
this posture, a platypus can remain submerged for a minute or two and
employ its sensitive bill to find food.
These Australian mammals
are bottom feeders.
They scoop up insects and larvae, shellfish, and
worms in their bill along with bits of gravel and mud from the bottom.
All this material is stored in cheek pouches and, at the surface, mashed
for consumption. Platypuses do not have teeth, so the bits of gravel
help them to "chew" their meal.
On land, platypuses move a bit
more awkwardly. However, the webbing on their feet retracts to expose
individual nails and allow the creatures to run. Platypuses use their
nails and feet to construct dirt burrows at the water's edge.
Platypus reproduction is nearly unique. It is one of only two
mammals (the echidna is the other) that
lay eggs.
Females
seal themselves inside one of the burrow's chambers to lay their eggs. A
mother typically produces one or two eggs and keeps them warm by
holding them between her body and her tail. The eggs hatch in about ten
days, but platypus infants are the size of lima beans and totally
helpless. Females
nurse their young for three to four months until the
babies can swim on their own.
Artikel ini dipetik dari http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/platypus/
