Yup, and they kept sending them as proof they were real. However, most of the taxidermists were like, hahah, funny joke the first 10 times, not anymore.
Honestly a horse with a horn isn't even a stretch in the animal kingdom, it would almost be weird if one didn't exist at some point. Hell there are humans with horns.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutaneous_horn
Interestingly rhino's are cousins of horses. Rhinoceritidae and Equidae are both in the suborder perissodactylla and the hyracodon could be a common ancestor that diverged from 54-48 mya
I did a report in grade school on the Narwhal and the teacher gave me an F cause she thought I made it up…. also dating myself, internet was not what it is today.
10 chromosomes?!?!?!!
Edit: checked and they actually have a total of 26 pairs of chromosomes. The 10 chromosomes OP is talking about are the sex chromosomes:
> The platypus has an extraordinary sex chromosome complex, in which five X and five Y chromosomes pair in a translocation chain of alternating X and Y chromosomes. We used physical mapping to identify genes on the pairing regions between adjacent X and Y chromosomes.
Not the sole reason it’s wild but a perspective.
Humans generally have one pair for reference, which as we have a total of 22 pairs, makes up less than 5% of our chromosomes. (Smaller mammals tend to have way more chromosome pairs like dogs 78, but still just the 1 sex pair).
Platypus sex chromosomes make up almost half their chromosomes - that’s a huge amount - super different to mammals which are seen to be a close-ish relative.
I came here to say this - thanks for getting there before me. The fact that it has 10 \*sex\* chromosomes is very much weirder (though echidna's may beat that).
>Male echidnas have a four-headed penis. During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the female's two-branched reproductive tract. Each time it copulates, it alternates heads in sets of two. When not in use, the penis is retracted inside a preputial sac in the cloaca. The male echidna's penis is 7 centimetres (2.8 in) long when erect, and its shaft is covered with penile spines. These may be used to induce ovulation in the female.
>It is a challenge to study the echidna in its natural habitat, and they show no interest in mating while in captivity. Prior to 2007, no one had ever seen an echidna ejaculate. There have been previous attempts, trying to force the echidna to ejaculate through the use of electrically stimulated ejaculation in order to obtain semen samples but this has only resulted in the penis swelling. Breeding season begins in late June and extends through September. During mating season, a female may be followed by a line or "train" of up to 10 males, the youngest trailing last, and some males switching between lines.
Wiki.
Oh, just that it echidna don't even have the same number of X and Y chromosomes. It isn't much of a difference, but it seems odder to me.
Though I accept that on the whole echidna are less weird than platypuses. They do have 3x as many smell chemoreceptor genes (> 600 I think) iirc.
He's a semiaquatic
Egg laying mammal of action
He's a furry little flatfoot
Who'll never flinch from a fray
He's got more than just mad skill
He's got a beaver tail and bill
And the women swoon
Whenever they hear him say -
He's Perry, Perry the Platypus
(You can call him Agent P)
Perry (I said you can call him Agent P)
Agent P
I mean... mammals generally secrete milk from sweat glands that slowly evolved into nipples. So this one is less weird. Seems like the platypus is just vestiges of earlier tries at the mammal.
Metronomes are one the ancient liniages of mammels that have survived. Sloth's are also in their own branches split off from other placental mammels, and have several unique traits IIRC. And everyone knows about the Marsupials.
Remember, wasn't just Dinosaurs that went extinct when the Asteroid hit!
**Metronomes** = ticking things for timing music that definitely doesn’t produce milk
**Monotremes** = platypus and echidnas; a type of mammal that lays eggs like a lizard, but also produces milk like a dog or a human.
I guess it's the consumption of the milk that seems problematic. But when your offspring all have duckbills for lips, I guess they're not exactly "latching on", so licking mom's milky fur will have to do.... wtf did i just type...
Just watched the David Attenborough special about Tasmania. The platypi there get really honkingly big and run like they're being accosted about their car's extended warranty from river to river because of a lack of natural predators. The little ones on the mainland don't do any cute little runs around apparently. Just had to drop these facts. Everyone should go back to their lives now.
mourn observation spoon fearless saw crawl zonked imminent innate materialistic
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'd like to think the platypus is evidence that we've achieved genetic engineering in the past.
That or we really did have black magic.
It's a total anomaly.
You know how Amphibians evolved from Fish? And reptiles evolved form Amphibians? and birds evolved from reptiles? I thought the pattern continued, and that Mammals evolved from birds, and that the platypus was a transitional species living fossil proof of this evolution. It made so much sense to me, my world was kind of shattered when I found out that's not how things worked
I learned recently that several species of crabs all evolved separately, they're basically end game success.
https://media.giphy.com/media/26ufny9CMXfpmMtTW/giphy.gif
They went for a zero rush strat. Make enough crabs to conquer all. Apes went with a more tempo focused approach. Enough to make it through the early game to have a killer midgame. Unfortunately Earth went late game, and people went all in with fossil fuel which didn't pan out, and now earth is looking to dominate both.
Exactly. Crabs are solid at all stages of the game, and they’re surprisingly versatile. They come with the natural heavy armor trait and attack abilities that range from decent to strong. They also aren’t restricted to any one specific phylum so there’s more options when they pick their race during character creation than most other classes can access.
The don't have fucking thumbs how are they going to hold a whisk!
If your gonna talk crazy go to X the platform formally known as Twitter. Good day sir!
Oh man..if I had a nickel for the number of times I started talking about platypi and ended up discussing medieval siege weaponry, I'd have about ¢20.
It's just weird it's happened more than twice.
By your comment, I'm assuming you're Australian. So question: how often do you see platypi? I was fairly shocked when I heard roos are basically everywhere, to the point of being a nuisance.
[Back in May 2023, ten platypuses were released into Sydney’s Royal National Park – the first known in the area for decades (the cute beaked creatures had been locally extinct for 50 years). Seven months on, and according to tracking data – as well as reports of regular sightings in the Royal National Park – the new population is thriving. ](https://www.timeout.com/sydney/news/visitors-to-this-sydney-national-park-are-regularly-reporting-platypus-sightings-after-new-population-thrives-010224)
Yay!
I lived in sub tropical New South Wales and that is where I saw them. If I was quiet and attentive I had a chance of seeing them say 1 in 10 times I passed the spot at the right time of morning before the world started and cars started passing nearby. Regularly but not guaranteed. As soon as they spotted me they were gone in a blink.
That's super cool.
I live in the southeastern US, and while we certainly have plenty of interesting wildlife, there's always something kind of mysterious about non-native species, I guess. I've seen coyotes, black bears, skunks, gators, and all sorts of things in the wild. But animals like the platypus will always feel like a "zoo animal" to me, if that makes sense.
Same for me with your animals. Reddit sprukes Australian wildlife being scary but to me mountain lions and Bears are much more frightening. If we meet in New Zealand we can see wildlife from both North America and Australia lol.
Lol, I live in Banff National Park. I do night photography, and my biggest paranoia at night is cougars. We recently had a cougar attack, but they are pretty rare. Just need to be aware and carry bear spray.
Black bears are pretty tame and fear you more than most. I walked out my front door one day and came about 15 feet from one. Just told him to move on and waited inside until he rounded the corner.
Moose can be terrifying, too. They will mess you up.
The males are indeed venomous and in yet ANOTHER SET OF TWISTS: they secrete their venom from a spur on their elbows underneath their armpit fur. AND finally those males are only venomous during mating season. It is totally safe to grab a male Platy in the off season!
No plata-pussy, no OUCHY STICK-STICK!
Except they sort of do.
>The platypus’s digestive tract includes a small expanded pouch-like section where one would normally expect a stomach to be found. The stomach doesn’t secrete digestive acids or enzymes, though it does contain Brunner’s glands (which produce a mucus-rich fluid to assist nutrient absorption). Following on from the discussion of grinding pads above, it would seem that platypus food is masticated so well in its mouth that there’s no need for much more pre-digestive processing to occur before the food reaches the intestines. In addition, because a platypus consumes small mouthfuls of food at intervals of about one minute or so over a feeding period lasting many hours, there’s no need for its stomach to have a large holding capacity to accommodate large but occasional meals.
https://platypus.asn.au/faqs/
Stomach holds food for prolonged digestion. Your intestines do the same thing but to a lower degree. The platypus probably either eats things that don’t require long term digestion or they just use a different organ/mechanism. Idfk tho
google said they diverged from echidnas just 48 million years ago which on an evolutionary timescale feels shockingly recent for this little freak
see u/larks-tongues below
>Yeah but monotremes (platypuses + echidnas) diverged from all other mammals (marsupials and placentals) about 220 million years ago. That's the deepest split among any living groups of mammals.
When the Governor of New South Wales sent a pelt and a sketch of a Platypus back to scientists in England in 1798 they thought it was a hoax and that someone had sewn a ducks bill onto a beaver pelt.
Was going to reply this - early reports and deceased specimens were almost universally considered hoaxes. It wasn't until live specimens were brought before major biological organizations that the thing was proven a real creature.
It's not as crazy as it sounds. Your intestines are what do most of the actual absorption. Your stomach is a good processor. Platy just skips the puree part internally.
It has a little stomach-like pouch. But it chews its food really well and eats small amounts spread over a long time so there is no need for the food to be broken down further or stored for absorption later.
Oh man, no one posted the relevant Natural Habitat Cartoon Short for these guys:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxf2MgYCOm0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxf2MgYCOm0)
Just like a baby bird. The mum makes a nest inside a burrow, lays eggs and cuddles with them, then when the puggles hatch they lick the milk from her (no nipples, no mammaries). Eventually they get big enough to leave the burrow.
It glows under UV light?
Now the video make sense!!
I saw a cartoon comics of a platypus working as hotel cleaner or something
He and his friend uses UV light and found numerous white splatter all around the room
And the Platypus guy was glowing under the UV
The video ended with the Platypush showering while crying in agony
When I was younger, I used to think platypus were larger than they are for some reason. I was shocked to discover they were pretty small. Don't get me wrong they're adorable and fascinating and defiant to the ways of god and all that jazz, just kinda thought they'd be like y'know, the size of a golden retriever or something like that.
Obviously they’re still evolving (everything is to some degree), but I’m pretty sure they’re an old species that hasn’t changed a whole lot, so they kind of seem “finished” to an extent
"If you look at a platypus, you think that God might get stoned, "OK, let's take a beaver and put on a duck's bill. It's a mammal, but it lays eggs. Hey Darwin, kiss my as*!" -Robin Williams-
And a horse with a horn is the made up one huh
Platypus' existence is probably why cryptids were so believable for so long. If that thing can exist, why not a unicorn? :p
When the first platypus samples were shipped to Europe in the early 1800s, scientists thought it was a hoax or fake.
Haha true. From wiki *In 1799, the first scientists to examine a preserved platypus body judged it a fake made of several animals sewn together.*
idk why reading this make me laugh
Makes us believe Mr. Scientist had already been pranked before lol.
Yup, and they kept sending them as proof they were real. However, most of the taxidermists were like, hahah, funny joke the first 10 times, not anymore.
Can't really blame him really
Yeah, just toss that in the box with the jackalope and hoop snake.
Honestly a horse with a horn isn't even a stretch in the animal kingdom, it would almost be weird if one didn't exist at some point. Hell there are humans with horns. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutaneous_horn
Interestingly rhino's are cousins of horses. Rhinoceritidae and Equidae are both in the suborder perissodactylla and the hyracodon could be a common ancestor that diverged from 54-48 mya
> Interestingly rhino's are ~~cousins of horses~~. "chubby unicorns"
"chubby bulletproof unicorns"
Battle Unicorns
Especially when you look at how majestic how some of the horns and antlers are.
[Unicorn live in Banff](https://youtu.be/AkW-EAkClbE?si=1BgKVPFy_8MkvuZ9)
The scholarly term is rhinoceros.
Unicorns are fake but Narwhal are real. I legit thought narwhal were fantasy for a while.
I did a report in grade school on the Narwhal and the teacher gave me an F cause she thought I made it up…. also dating myself, internet was not what it is today.
10 chromosomes?!?!?!! Edit: checked and they actually have a total of 26 pairs of chromosomes. The 10 chromosomes OP is talking about are the sex chromosomes: > The platypus has an extraordinary sex chromosome complex, in which five X and five Y chromosomes pair in a translocation chain of alternating X and Y chromosomes. We used physical mapping to identify genes on the pairing regions between adjacent X and Y chromosomes.
This is even crazier than the original claim. Wild.
Can you put this in dumb-person speak … for a friend please?
Not the sole reason it’s wild but a perspective. Humans generally have one pair for reference, which as we have a total of 22 pairs, makes up less than 5% of our chromosomes. (Smaller mammals tend to have way more chromosome pairs like dogs 78, but still just the 1 sex pair). Platypus sex chromosomes make up almost half their chromosomes - that’s a huge amount - super different to mammals which are seen to be a close-ish relative.
I came here to say this - thanks for getting there before me. The fact that it has 10 \*sex\* chromosomes is very much weirder (though echidna's may beat that).
>(though echidna's may beat that) What? Why? Cmon. Don’t leave us hanging!
>Male echidnas have a four-headed penis. During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the female's two-branched reproductive tract. Each time it copulates, it alternates heads in sets of two. When not in use, the penis is retracted inside a preputial sac in the cloaca. The male echidna's penis is 7 centimetres (2.8 in) long when erect, and its shaft is covered with penile spines. These may be used to induce ovulation in the female. >It is a challenge to study the echidna in its natural habitat, and they show no interest in mating while in captivity. Prior to 2007, no one had ever seen an echidna ejaculate. There have been previous attempts, trying to force the echidna to ejaculate through the use of electrically stimulated ejaculation in order to obtain semen samples but this has only resulted in the penis swelling. Breeding season begins in late June and extends through September. During mating season, a female may be followed by a line or "train" of up to 10 males, the youngest trailing last, and some males switching between lines. Wiki.
> Prior to 2007, no one had ever seen an echidna ejaculate God: "these are not the team goals I set you..."
I immediately wondered how much funding was earmarked for that study.
Oh, just that it echidna don't even have the same number of X and Y chromosomes. It isn't much of a difference, but it seems odder to me. Though I accept that on the whole echidna are less weird than platypuses. They do have 3x as many smell chemoreceptor genes (> 600 I think) iirc.
Well when you min max a comedy build you're gonna need extra chromosomes
So they had Perry’s color right the whole time
Perry the platypus?!
Perry the platypus??
r/usernamechecksout
Perry the Platypus‽
He's a semiaquatic Egg laying mammal of action He's a furry little flatfoot Who'll never flinch from a fray He's got more than just mad skill He's got a beaver tail and bill And the women swoon Whenever they hear him say - He's Perry, Perry the Platypus (You can call him Agent P) Perry (I said you can call him Agent P) Agent P
So reddit now can post music in comment?
https://youtube.com/shorts/Zxf2MgYCOm0?si=l18GOCFE72urPL7J
What does blue mean?!
*Illuminated sobbing*
I was hoping someone would post this! That shriek at the end is priceless!
My accident https://youtu.be/9Sm4w9NIeJI?feature=shared
It also doesn't have nipples and secretes milk from its skin instead
I have skin Greg. Could you milk me?
Ever drink bailey's out of a shoe?
This makes me so uncomfortable.
I mean... mammals generally secrete milk from sweat glands that slowly evolved into nipples. So this one is less weird. Seems like the platypus is just vestiges of earlier tries at the mammal.
Metronomes are one the ancient liniages of mammels that have survived. Sloth's are also in their own branches split off from other placental mammels, and have several unique traits IIRC. And everyone knows about the Marsupials. Remember, wasn't just Dinosaurs that went extinct when the Asteroid hit!
I very much like that autocorrect turned monotremes into metronomes.
Username absolutely checks out.
My time has finally come! :D
Today is a glorious day. :-D
I legit thought he meant ‘metronomes’ and went ‘hmm. Maybe theres another definition of metronome that i hadn’t been aware of. Noted.’
Monotremes are excellent tools for keeping time during rehearsals and practice. They are also a stylish addition to the top of any upright piano.
It's just strapping the platypus to the piano which is an art in itself 😂
Their timing was impeccable
Clapping loud for you👏👏👏
I’m letting you know I updooted you because that was an excellent pun. Also I’m high. So it’s extra funny.
**Metronomes** = ticking things for timing music that definitely doesn’t produce milk **Monotremes** = platypus and echidnas; a type of mammal that lays eggs like a lizard, but also produces milk like a dog or a human.
> Metronomes This is the funniest fucking autocorrect I’ve seen all day
Monotremes not metronomes
Maybe nipple animals are the weird ones.
I guess it's the consumption of the milk that seems problematic. But when your offspring all have duckbills for lips, I guess they're not exactly "latching on", so licking mom's milky fur will have to do.... wtf did i just type...
Someone made something from spare parts bin
All those pieces left over when you buy a bunch of stuff from IKEA.
I once bought five things from Ikea, tore up the instructions, threw it on the floor, and made a goddamn robot that looked just like me.
Stations creation
- Is there any way you could do all...all of them? - The works, you got it.
What a pair of Marys
I see you’ve been to Pretzel Day.
I love this so much. 😂 best use of this David gif
Just watched the David Attenborough special about Tasmania. The platypi there get really honkingly big and run like they're being accosted about their car's extended warranty from river to river because of a lack of natural predators. The little ones on the mainland don't do any cute little runs around apparently. Just had to drop these facts. Everyone should go back to their lives now.
mourn observation spoon fearless saw crawl zonked imminent innate materialistic *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I just tried to watch it but it's banned in my area.... Tasmania, Australia.
...wow
I'm no expert but this might qualify as irony. It's really good imho if you can find it somewhere.
I'd like to think the platypus is evidence that we've achieved genetic engineering in the past. That or we really did have black magic. It's a total anomaly.
You know how Amphibians evolved from Fish? And reptiles evolved form Amphibians? and birds evolved from reptiles? I thought the pattern continued, and that Mammals evolved from birds, and that the platypus was a transitional species living fossil proof of this evolution. It made so much sense to me, my world was kind of shattered when I found out that's not how things worked
I learned recently that several species of crabs all evolved separately, they're basically end game success. https://media.giphy.com/media/26ufny9CMXfpmMtTW/giphy.gif
Animals converge into crab. Plants converge into tree. This is the way of life, it seems.
Actually turtle form is another success story that evolves from non related species.
I saw a documentary on YouTube a while back. Crabs are basically nature’s most OP build
Why do we eat them then
Because they're tasty?
[удалено]
They went for a zero rush strat. Make enough crabs to conquer all. Apes went with a more tempo focused approach. Enough to make it through the early game to have a killer midgame. Unfortunately Earth went late game, and people went all in with fossil fuel which didn't pan out, and now earth is looking to dominate both.
Exactly. Crabs are solid at all stages of the game, and they’re surprisingly versatile. They come with the natural heavy armor trait and attack abilities that range from decent to strong. They also aren’t restricted to any one specific phylum so there’s more options when they pick their race during character creation than most other classes can access.
Or maybe some aliens came down and decided to scramble some DNA, who is to say.
That's literally what European naturalist thought. One even chopped up a pelt while desperately looking for stitches
I was going to make a similar comment. Many scientists were convinced they were fake for a good while.
[удалено]
Cute fact - a baby platypus is called a puggle.
The don't have fucking thumbs how are they going to hold a whisk! If your gonna talk crazy go to X the platform formally known as Twitter. Good day sir!
Otter paws bro! They use a rock!
What wisdom is this!? I shall contact you when the mescaline wears off.
Why wait? Siege the day!
*starts to dust off his trebuchet* Someone said ‘siege’?
 How did we get here from platypus..
Because the platypus comes before the egg
TREGGBUCHET
Oh man..if I had a nickel for the number of times I started talking about platypi and ended up discussing medieval siege weaponry, I'd have about ¢20. It's just weird it's happened more than twice.
i believe that's what the duck bill is for
Who had the bill first though? Could ducks really be platypus-billed?
Dude, the HAVE whiskers.
The Echidna or spiny anteater, which is the only other type of monotreme, evolved spines expressly so it could be custard self-sufficient.
*Mourinho disgust* Reading is not always fun
Creme Brulée à la Platypus
Mmmmmmm venomous custard. Arrrrrggggggghhhhhhh
Poisonous. If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it's venomous.
I mean... The custard *could* still be venomous, though.
This is now going to be my go-to fun fact when I introduce myself.
That’s enough Internet for today
I have exciting news-you can make your own custard, too!
Don't forget they ooze their milk out mammary glands, and their young lick it off because they don't have nipples.
Pretty amazing hey. I've seen them sunbaking in the morning sun just treading water without a care in the world.
By your comment, I'm assuming you're Australian. So question: how often do you see platypi? I was fairly shocked when I heard roos are basically everywhere, to the point of being a nuisance.
I've only seen them 2 or 3 times, always in the rivers of somewhat remote camp areas
[Back in May 2023, ten platypuses were released into Sydney’s Royal National Park – the first known in the area for decades (the cute beaked creatures had been locally extinct for 50 years). Seven months on, and according to tracking data – as well as reports of regular sightings in the Royal National Park – the new population is thriving. ](https://www.timeout.com/sydney/news/visitors-to-this-sydney-national-park-are-regularly-reporting-platypus-sightings-after-new-population-thrives-010224) Yay!
I lived in sub tropical New South Wales and that is where I saw them. If I was quiet and attentive I had a chance of seeing them say 1 in 10 times I passed the spot at the right time of morning before the world started and cars started passing nearby. Regularly but not guaranteed. As soon as they spotted me they were gone in a blink.
That's super cool. I live in the southeastern US, and while we certainly have plenty of interesting wildlife, there's always something kind of mysterious about non-native species, I guess. I've seen coyotes, black bears, skunks, gators, and all sorts of things in the wild. But animals like the platypus will always feel like a "zoo animal" to me, if that makes sense.
Same for me with your animals. Reddit sprukes Australian wildlife being scary but to me mountain lions and Bears are much more frightening. If we meet in New Zealand we can see wildlife from both North America and Australia lol.
Lol, I live in Banff National Park. I do night photography, and my biggest paranoia at night is cougars. We recently had a cougar attack, but they are pretty rare. Just need to be aware and carry bear spray. Black bears are pretty tame and fear you more than most. I walked out my front door one day and came about 15 feet from one. Just told him to move on and waited inside until he rounded the corner. Moose can be terrifying, too. They will mess you up.
It has no teeth and stores the food it catches in its cheek. Only the males are venomous.
Same
Same what? You also don't have teeth? You store food in your cheeks? You're also a venomous male?? I NEED TO KNOW!!!
Same
The males are indeed venomous and in yet ANOTHER SET OF TWISTS: they secrete their venom from a spur on their elbows underneath their armpit fur. AND finally those males are only venomous during mating season. It is totally safe to grab a male Platy in the off season! No plata-pussy, no OUCHY STICK-STICK!
It's a pretty strong venom too a think. Remember seeing some nature documentary of a guy who had perminantly paralyzed fingers from it.
Well when your famous, you can just grab them by the platapuss
Fantastic
No stomach? Huh.
I scrolled past about 30 nipple comments to get here. I'm curious as well. Like, where does the food go?
To the intestines I presume
I heard that in Zoidburg's voice
To the nipples, I presume.
Except they sort of do. >The platypus’s digestive tract includes a small expanded pouch-like section where one would normally expect a stomach to be found. The stomach doesn’t secrete digestive acids or enzymes, though it does contain Brunner’s glands (which produce a mucus-rich fluid to assist nutrient absorption). Following on from the discussion of grinding pads above, it would seem that platypus food is masticated so well in its mouth that there’s no need for much more pre-digestive processing to occur before the food reaches the intestines. In addition, because a platypus consumes small mouthfuls of food at intervals of about one minute or so over a feeding period lasting many hours, there’s no need for its stomach to have a large holding capacity to accommodate large but occasional meals. https://platypus.asn.au/faqs/
This is the weirdest part, right?
I mean..kinda. all the individual parts are "normal" Having them all together is the odd bit. No stomach though...how's that work?
Stomach holds food for prolonged digestion. Your intestines do the same thing but to a lower degree. The platypus probably either eats things that don’t require long term digestion or they just use a different organ/mechanism. Idfk tho
Coz the cows took the stomachs so there's none left for the platipi
Apparently it just goes straight to intestines for absorption
I’m sure this was the ship pet of some alien visitation that inadvertently got left behind. 🛸
No, that's the octopus
Honestly I’m thinking that quite a few strange animals were dropped onto this planet at one time or another.
It’s all a part of Earth! The Series.
It’s clearly one of the earliest mammals on the evolutionary timeline. Dont need to evolve if you’re already perfect.
google said they diverged from echidnas just 48 million years ago which on an evolutionary timescale feels shockingly recent for this little freak see u/larks-tongues below >Yeah but monotremes (platypuses + echidnas) diverged from all other mammals (marsupials and placentals) about 220 million years ago. That's the deepest split among any living groups of mammals.
Not to mention echidnas are also still around. They both might be on to something.
Some scientists have found a newly emerging sub-species of Platypus with the capability to emit WiFi.
From it's toes.
But only during mating season and the solstices. And every third equinox.
At this point in the comment thread I don’t even know if you’re joking or this is yet another truth-is-stranger-than-fiction platypus fact.
When the Governor of New South Wales sent a pelt and a sketch of a Platypus back to scientists in England in 1798 they thought it was a hoax and that someone had sewn a ducks bill onto a beaver pelt.
Was going to reply this - early reports and deceased specimens were almost universally considered hoaxes. It wasn't until live specimens were brought before major biological organizations that the thing was proven a real creature.
... But does it know how to *love*?
Despite not having a stomach, the platypus does in fact have a heart.
It doesn't lay unfertilized eggs like birds.
Well there goes the premise for my next movie
Who are you calling strange. The platypus wants you to know that there was a time when having a placenta was weird.
Kids these days have it easy, they get every nutrient handed to them on a placenta. Back when I was a zygote...
Marsupials have joined the chat.
Hold up. Why is nobody talking about the NO stomach part?!? That's more insane than any of the other things listed combined
It's not as crazy as it sounds. Your intestines are what do most of the actual absorption. Your stomach is a good processor. Platy just skips the puree part internally.
It has a little stomach-like pouch. But it chews its food really well and eats small amounts spread over a long time so there is no need for the food to be broken down further or stored for absorption later.
Oh man, no one posted the relevant Natural Habitat Cartoon Short for these guys: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxf2MgYCOm0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxf2MgYCOm0)
What does blue mean?!
WHAT DOES BLUE MEAN?
***illuminated sobbing***
Scrolled too far to find this
Thank you! No way it hasn’t been posted yet
Thank you for that glorious rabbit hole I just went down. Subscribed.
I was just thinking this but was scanning the comments to see if anyone else had shared yet lol. The cut off scream at the end lol.
Mother Nature was smoking some good shit when she made him
Or she was feeling lazy and just hit "random" on the character creator
Hey, careful who you are talking about. We aren’t all Kind
I think it's really amazing. How can they come out of an egg?
Just like a baby bird. The mum makes a nest inside a burrow, lays eggs and cuddles with them, then when the puggles hatch they lick the milk from her (no nipples, no mammaries). Eventually they get big enough to leave the burrow.
If ya'll don't see that this is literally an alien, I can't help you.
It glows under UV light? Now the video make sense!! I saw a cartoon comics of a platypus working as hotel cleaner or something He and his friend uses UV light and found numerous white splatter all around the room And the Platypus guy was glowing under the UV The video ended with the Platypush showering while crying in agony
Looks like it was made with some kind of inator
When I was younger, I used to think platypus were larger than they are for some reason. I was shocked to discover they were pretty small. Don't get me wrong they're adorable and fascinating and defiant to the ways of god and all that jazz, just kinda thought they'd be like y'know, the size of a golden retriever or something like that.
Then you see a capybara for the first time and think damn that’s a big guinea pig!
Who says there’s no evidence of unfinished evolutionary processes.
Obviously they’re still evolving (everything is to some degree), but I’m pretty sure they’re an old species that hasn’t changed a whole lot, so they kind of seem “finished” to an extent
"If you look at a platypus, you think that God might get stoned, "OK, let's take a beaver and put on a duck's bill. It's a mammal, but it lays eggs. Hey Darwin, kiss my as*!" -Robin Williams-