Why I love the platypus, part 3.

Platypus Babies.

The grown-up platy is pretty damn cute, but in my opinion there is just nothing cuter than a baby platypus. Behold:

Pocket sized platy!! Boy, is this guy ADORABLE.

Also note that he's super fat! That's from nursing on his mom, of course. When platypi were first being investigated, one of the most puzzling things about them was how an animal with a beak could suckle like other mammals. Well, as you can see above, the baby's little snout is much stubbier than the adult's. This lets it chow down on milk.

Another thing that was a huge controversy was whether or not platypi could be considered mammals, because they do not have the standard milk-bearing equipment (ie nipples). Instead, when stimulated by baby, milk just kind of drips out of glands on the mom's tummy. It seems a little less efficient-- doesn't that waste milk? But it seems to work well for the platypus.

Now, as for eggs.

Images from The Complete Platypus (www.platypus.org.uk)

This is a platypus egg! As you can see, it's teeny tiny! So the palm-sized platypus above is actually well on its way to growing up. I have not been able to find any good pictures of just hatched babies, but I am investigating, so hopefully I'll have some soon. This is the youngest platypus I've come across:


The lack of photo evidence may be because the females lay their eggs deep within their burrows, which can be HUGE, up to 15 meters long! Platypi almost always lay two eggs. Why this is is not really known, but I'm guessing they are like other animals with a two baby norm, like sheep. One of my favorite platypus pictures is of two baby platys born at the Healesville Sanctuary.

So fat and cute!!

In the course of finding my pictures for this entry, I came across another kinda neat platypus website, Platypus Pool. It's actually an anti-war website, but they have some interesting info and platy-pics. I like that platypi are their mascot, and they seem cool. They say that the platypus "is noted for its odd combination of primitive features and special adaptations," which is a good way of putting it, I think. I noticed that some of their other info is a little off though, so don't use it as your primary platypus source...

Happy October!

--Platygirl