Appearance

• The platypus has been described as a "hodgepodge" of other creatures, and indeed combines various features of more common animals to create its one-of-a-kind appearance. The platypus is an otter-like mammal with four scaly webbed feet, a duck-like bill, and a beaver's wide, flat tail. It has tiny eyes and dense, close-fitting brown fur. The platypus averages 20 inches long (including the tail) and weighs approximately three pounds.
  
  

Habitat

• Native to Australia, the platypus relies on the freshwater lakes and inlets found on the continent's eastern coast to feed. The platypus is awkward on land, and makes an inefficient hunter out of the water. Because of agricultural development and urban spread, many freshwater bodies are being diminished, threatening the platypus' natural habitat.
  
  

Behavior and Diet

• The platypus feeds on worms, shellfish, shrimp, fish and insects, which it locates via the aid of an ability to sense its prey's electrical impulses. Because the platypus lacks teeth, it consumes small quantities of gravel and mud with its prey, using the debris to help grind food. Hunting platypus can consume their body weight in food within a 24 hour period. While all hunting is done in the water, the platypus spends its resting hours in land-based burrows.
  
  

Reproduction

• The platypus is one of only two mammals known to science which lay eggs rather than give birth to live young. The lima-bean sized babies (laid in clutches of one to three at a time) hatch after 10 days of incubation and are completely helpless without their mother. The female platypus will nurse the young for three to four months until they are able to survive on their own.
  
  

Interesting Facts

• As if the strange combination of features and egg-laying habits were not enough to set the platypus apart, males are also one of the very few venomous mammals, defending themselves with sharp spurs on both hind legs. A male platypus packs enough venom to kill a small dog and make an adult human extremely ill. It is thought that these spurs are used to fight for and defend a chosen female during the breeding season.