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!