The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal that lays eggs. It was first thought to be a hoax. European naturalists thought that someone had stitched a duckbill to a beaver-like animal to form this “platypus.” It was later discovered that these strange creatures were anything but a hoax. These creatures have ankle spurs which, in males, contains venom poisonous enough to severely injure a human. The platypus is brown mammal with a broad, duck-like bill. It has webbed feet, the hind foot which contains a venom spur, and a fat tail used to store fat. These bizarre creatures have a body temperature averaging about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This is rare in most placental mammals which have an average body temperature of about 99 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Platypus has no definite sound in which it makes. Despite what many people think, it does not quack. It in fact makes a low growling sound when threatened. It has a wide variety in sounds it makes in different circumstances.

The female platypus lays eggs similar to those of reptiles, which the exception that the eggs divide. Once the eggs have hatched, the mother feeds the young, hairless, and blind platypus with her milk. Although platypuses contain mammary glands, it goes not have teats. Instead, the milk oozes out of pores located in the abdomen of the mother platypus which allows the young to lap it up. After about 3-4 months on suckling, the young spend around 5 weeks being protected by the mother in soil burrows. The young then emerge and start their own life. They are born with teeth but lose them as they mature, leaving them with the hard, spiky bill to grind their food with.

Overall, the Platypus is an extraordinary creature that still seems to boggle the minds of many.