Snugglypus!

I dare you to find something cuter than this, anywhere:

Yup, looks like platys like to spoon! How ADORABLE is that?!

Also, related to yesterday's topic (the platypus bill and its amazing powers), I thought this picture was cool too:You can see how he's kind of feeling along the bottom with his bill. Apparently underwater pictures of the platypus are very rare, and most I've seen aren't as good as this one.

I got both of these images from a really neato website called The Complete Platypus. As I mentioned previously, there aren't too many platypus websites out there, let alone platypus fan sites! This one is really quite a gem. And as a source of great platy pictures, it can't be beat!

Well, hope you all enjoy your weekends...

xo Platygirl

Why I love the platypus, part 2.

IT HAS A SIXTH SENSE!!

Image source: nationalgeographic.com

It can see dead platypi...

Ha, no just kidding. Actually, what I mean is, the platypus finds its food underwater by sensing minute electrical charges created when its prey (wormies and such) moves around. When a platypus is under water, its eyes and nose are sealed tight shut, and yet it still can find things and navigate successfully! How does it do this?

WITH ITS BILL!

That's right, that adorable little beak also has a really cool purpose in being on the platy's schnoz. It is in fact an extremely perceptive sensory organ. When platypuses are alive, the bill is very soft and flexible, not at all like the bill of a duck, which it obviously resembles. That weird looking part at the top of the bill, near the face, is meant to protect platy's eyes while it's digging around in the mud.

So, how was this fantastic electric capacity discovered? Well, according to Platypus Guru Ann Moyal, the platypuses secret was found out by a German dude named Henning Scheich (Moyal, pp 188-191). Scheich put a platy into a tank with charged and uncharged batteries. Sure enough, our hero was able to find his way right over to the electrified ones, but couldn't tell where the others were! Click here to see a video of a platy swimming about, just like that.

Ok, so, that's pretty cool. But, even more interestingly, the way the platypus uses electricity is different from the way other animals do it. Example: the sleek and fancy bottlenosed dolphin below:

Basically (very basically, if you want a more scientific or in-depth explanation, go ahead and read Moyal!) the platypus' system is unique because in most animals, the electro-receptors trigger some chemical that tells neurons in the brain "hey, there's something over there. Go check it out." In the platy, the electrical current "excites the nerve fiber directly," (Moyal, 191) without any middle man, as it were.

And that, let's face it is just damn COOL.

Hip, hip, hooray for plugged-in platypi!!!


xo Platygirl

PlatyRap!

Artist: The Platy Boyz
Album: Monotreme Wars (2007)

In this new album, veteran Aussie rappers the Platy Boyz (AKA DJ Duckbill and MC Spiny) don't fail to deliver, living up to the standards set by 1998's Hello Platy, 1999's Illin' With a Bill, and 1994's record-breaking Some Old Platypussary. In songs like "Fishin' for Wormz," the Boyz manage to capture, with their witty, always humorous style, the strange pathos, yet inarguable "illness" of the Ornithorynchus anatinus species. Well done, Boyz, yet again!!

*****
-- Rolling Stone

Plat Nasty Git Down!
Monotreme Wars, track 3

Now, all around the world nothing like it can be found
One beak, four legs, knows how to get down!

Platypus, platypus, that's our proclivity
bring him back home and breed him in captivity

Not a bird, not a bat, not a two-humped camel
Duck-billed platypus: egg laying mammal
Pint-sized platypus, evolution credible
Electro-sensing platypus, finds bugs that are edible

Species: anatinus
Genus: Ornithorynchus
Order: Monotremata
Class: Mammalia
Phylum: Choradata
Kingdom: Animalia. Duck-billed platypus, found in Australia!

Now that platypus is a sassy little beast
Give him some worms and he'll have himself a feast

Not a fish, not a whale, not an African Giant Snail
Duck-billed platypus, hot on yer tail!

Platypus, platypus looks kinda funny
Not slimy like a newt or bouncy like a bunny
You say he's not an animal, yo, what ya bin smokin'?
He's a duck-billed platypus, we ain't jokin'.

Species: anatinus
Genus: Ornithorynchus
Order: Monotremata
Class: Mammalia
Phylum: Choradata
Kingdom: Animalia. Duck-billed platypus, found in Australia!

Yo! Platygirl here. For more fun facts about all sorts of platypussary, check out the Wikipedia entry on "platypus". As always, very informative. You could also look up the Beastie Boys on Wiki, like Platygirl just did, and read all about their discography, then make up funny sounding album titles based on it.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for "Why I Love the Platypus: Reason #2," coming soon.

xo, Platygirl

Why I love the platypus, part 1.

The animal itself, getting some serious cute on.

This image is from the very informative website of the Healesville Platypus Sanctuary, in Australia, which can be found at: http://www.zoo.org.au/healesville/platypus_hs.htm. I will definitely refer to this great institution later on, so watch for further mention.

Thinking about, reading about, and generally devoting attention to the most adorable and fascinating animal around (yes, the platypus, pictured above!) takes up a lot of space in my brain. I thought, why not take up some space on the internet with it too? There are actually very few websites or online spots concerning platypi (or if you are Australian, "platypuses"), so why not!

With no further ado, I will present Reason One Why I Love the Platypus

1) It is an egg-laying mammal. There are only two of these IN THE WORLD. Way to be different, platypus! The only other egg-laying mammal, or monotreme (of the mammal subclass Prototheria) is the Spiny Echidna, also a totally rocking animal. See below:


Clearly this critter a) is also amazing, and b) looks absolutely nothing like our hero, the cuddly, stubby beaked platypus.

What these seemingly disapparate animals have in common is that they are both mammals (i.e. warm blooded, have chambered hearts and hair), but are oviparous (lay eggs), an attribute usually reserved for reptiles, fish, and birds. Also, normally to be a mammal you have to suckle your young, you know, with milk and stuff. Well, even though these two animal super-stars don't give birth to their young viviparously, like other mammals, THEY STILL DO THIS!

echidna image source: http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/June2000/img/f_echid10.jpg

The platypus and echidna both come from Australia, a continent famous for wacky animals (think marsupials). The platypus is, in fact, not allowed to be brought out of Australia for any reason, scientific or otherwise, which explains why we don't have any at zoos here in the USA.

And now for a little literary plug: I recently read a pretty great book on platypi called Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World, by Australian scientific historian (how sweet is that for a job!?) Ann Moyal.

It may be a little dry if you aren't a superfan like me, but I learned lots of great stuff about the history of platypusdom in the human arena. Believe it or not, this cute little animal at one point cause a huge amount of crazy argument in the scientific world. And at one point Winston Churchill even wanted one (see Moyal p181 for more on this). Expect to see lots more references to this book, at least until I can track down more "platyrature" to cite and try to make you read.

So, let's have three cheers for the Ornithorynchus anatinus, warm blooded egg-layer!