Brief Description |
The duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is found in eastern Australia and Tasmania. It is aquatic with webbed feet and a bill studded with electroreceptors for finding prey in the river bottom. Males have a venomous spur on their hind legs. The platypus is one of only five species of monotremes, egg-laying mammals close to the common reptilian ancestor of all living mammals. When first discovered, it was believed to be a hoax in the form of disparate animal parts combined into an odd animal by a clever taxidermist.
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