Category:Platypus

Plat"y*pus, n. Etym: [nl., fr. Gr. (zoöl.)

Defn: the duck mole. See under duck.

Scientific classification Kingdom:	Animalia Phylum:	Chordata Class:	Mammalia Order:	Monotremata Family:	Ornithorhynchidae Genus:	Ornithorhynchus Blumenbach, 1800 Species:	O. anatinus Binomial name Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Domain: Eukaryota Regnum: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Superclassis: Tetrapoda Classis: Mammalia Subclassis: Prototheria Ordo: Monotremata Familia: Ornithorhynchidae Genus: Ornithorhynchus Species: Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw, 1799)

Platypus (Plat-i-pus), the common name, is derived from the Greek words πλατύς (platys) and πους (pous), meaning "flat foot." The scientific name Ornithorhynchus Anatinus is derived from Ορνιθόρυνχος ("ornithorhynkhos"), which literally means "bird snout" in Greek, and Anatinus meaning "duck-like" in Latin.

Other Names: Duck-Billed Platypus Scientific Name: Ornithorhynchus Anatinus Names for male, female, young, group

Height at Shoulder: Overall Height: Weight: males 2-5.5lb. (0.9-2.5kg), females 1.54-3.5 lb.(0.7-1.6kg) Length of Head and Body: 15-23.2 in. (38-59 cm) Length of Tail: 10.6-15 in. (27-35 cm) Overall Length: 25.6-38.2 in. (65-94 cm)

Colors/Characteristics: dark brown fur with black forefeet and bill Self-Defense: males have spurs on ankles to fight for mates and territory Diet: insect larvae, fish, freshwater shrimp, crayfish, annelid worms, tadpoles, and frogs Conservation Status: Locally Common Social Unit: Solitary Lifespan: up to 15 years in the wild, up to 17 years in captivity

Characteristics
The platypus' toothless, rubbery bill is a large, pliable sensory organ with millions of jelly-filled pits, having a mouth underneath and nostrils on the dorsal surface, with the eyes and ears in grooves set slightly behind the bill. As with all true mammals, the tiny bones that conduct sounds to the middle ear are fully incorporated into the skull, though the exterior opening of the ear lies at the base of the jaw. It closes its nostrils, eyes, and ears when swimming and using electroreceptors, located in rostro-caudal rows in the skin of the bill, and mechanoreceptros, which detect touch and are uniformly distributed across the bill, to find food by the muscular contractions their prey produce, causing minute changes in electric fields. It moves its head side-to-side while hunting to determine the direction of an electric source by comparing differences in signal strength across the sheet of electroreceptors. It utilizes cheek pouches to carry its food to the surface to be eaten. The Platypus has extra bones in the shoulder girdle, including an interclavical, which is not found in other mammals. Due to the legs being on the sides of its body instead of underneath, it has a reptilian gait. Though its brown dense fur traps a layer of insulating air to keep the animal warm in water below 41°F (5°C), the platypus has an unusually low body temperature – 88-90°F (31-32°C) – with most placental mammals having a temperature of about 100°F (37°C). The platypus has webbed forefeet it uses to swim, but can fold back the webbing to walk or dig with its broad nails. The hind feet are partially webbed, and are used as rudders in the water. On the males, the hind legs have kidney-shaped venom glands which are connected by thin-walled ducts to hollow calcaneus spurs on the ankles, producing enough venom to kill a dog. Though it is not lethal to humans, it may produce such excruciating pain that the victim may be incapacitated. Swelling begins rapidly around the wound and spreads through the affected limb, causing extreme sensitivity to pain for days or even months. Although females lack functional crural glands, they do have rudimentary spur buds, which drop off before the end of their first year. The platypus' broad tail stores fat reserves.

Habitat
Being semi-aquatic and an excellent swimmer, the platypus inhabits small freshwater rivers and streams from the cold, mountainous regions of Tasmania and the Australian Alps to the tropical rainforests of the coast of Queensland and the base of the Cape York Peninsula. Despite its natural predators including larger reptiles, birds of prey, and red foxes, mortality rates for adult platypuses in the wild are low. Platypuses are normally active at night and twilight, but some individuals are active during the day, particularly when the sky is overcast. Throughout the year, the platypus lives in a short, straight resting burrow of oval cross-section on the side of a riverbank, having an entrance about 1 ft. (30 cm) above water level, usually hidden by a protective tangle of roots. Females may have a range of up to 4.4 mi. (7 km), with a male's territory overlapping that of 3 or 4 females. It spends an average of 12 hours a day foraging for food in the water, due to its need to eat about 20% of its own weight every day. It usually makes dives for food lasting about 30 seconds, seldom exceeding the estimated aerobic limit of 40 seconds, and spending 10 to 20 seconds recovering on the surface. Unlike other mammals, it propels itself by using an alternate rowing motion with its forefeet and using its hind feet and tail as rudders.

Life Cycle
Platypuses reach maturity in about 2 years. The male takes no part in the care for its young, and returns to its yearlong burrow. The female constructs a burrow with a length of up to 66 ft. (20 m), and softens the floor of it with dead, folded, wet leaves, with fallen leaves and reeds for bedding, which she drags to the nest by tucking it under her curled tail. She blocks the tunnel with thin plugs of soil to protect the young from water and predators, regulate humidity and temperature, and force the water from her fur when she returns from foraging. The female lays 1 to 3, but usually 2, small, leathery eggs in a nesting burrow on the bankside. The eggs are about 7/16 in. (11mm) in diameter and are slightly rounder than bird eggs. After laying the eggs, the female curls around them to incubate them for about 10-14 days between her body and tail. During incubation and weaning, the mother only leaves the burrow for short periods to forage. The young are vulnerable, blind, and hairless and remain in the burrow for 3-4 months. The young have three-cusped molars, which they lose before or shortly after leaving the burrow, and are replaced by highly keratinised pads. After about five weeks, the mother spends less time with her young and they emerge from the burrow, eventually leading solitary lives.

The name for Platypus in other languages: English: Platypus Afrikaans: Eendbekdier العربية: خلد الماء Azərbaycanca: Ördəkburun Bahasa Indonesia: Platipus Bahasa Melayu: Platipus Basa Jawa: Platypus Беларуская: Качканос ‪Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‬: Качканос  བོད་ཡིག: སྲམ་ངང་མཆུ་ཅན། Brezhoneg: Ornitorink Български: Птицечовка Català: Ornitorinc Česky: Ptakopysk Cymraeg: Hwyatbig Dansk: Næbdyr Deutsch: Schnabeltier Diné bizaad: Tsídiidaaʼ bił naaldlooshii Eesti: Nokkloom Español: Ornitorrinco Esperanto: Ornitorinko Euskara: Ornitorrinko فارسی: نوک‌اردکی Français: Ornithorynque Gaeilge: Platapas lacha-ghobach Gaelg: Platypus Gàidhlig: Platypus gob-tunnaige Galego: Ornitorrinco 한국어: 오리너구리 Hrvatski: Čudnovati kljunaš Ido: Ornitorinko Ирон: Бабызвындз Íslenska: Breiðnefur Italiano: Ornitorinco עברית: ברווזן ქართული: იხვნისკარტა Kiswahili: Domobata Latina: Ornithorhynchus Latviešu: Pīļknābis Lietuvių: Ančiasnapis Magyar: Kacsacsőrű emlős മലയാളം: പ്ലാറ്റിപസ് Nederlands: Vogelbekdier 日本語: カモノハシ ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬: Nebbdyr Polski: Dziobak Português: Ornitorrinco Română: Ornitorinc Русский: Утконос Seeltersk: Snoabeldiert Shqip: Sqepori Simple English: Platypus Slovenčina: Vtákopysk divný Suomi: Vesinokkaeläin Svenska: Näbbdjur తెలుగు: ప్లాటిపస్ ไทย: ตุ่นปากเป็ด Tiếng Việt: Thú mỏ vịt Türkçe: Ornitorenk Українська: Качкодзьоб اردو: ڈک بل  粵語: 鴨嘴獸 中文: 鸭嘴兽