![]() There are very few if any platypuses left in most the Murray-Darling Basin. There are platypus on Kangaroo Island, but these were brought there in an attempt to save animals people thought might become extinct. ![]() In the past, platypus lived in South Australia but they no longer do so. It has been seen in alpine lakes in Tasmania in the south, and north in Queensland as far as the Cape York Peninsula in tropical rain forest rivers. The map above shows this with dark purple. The platypus lives in small streams and rivers over a large area of eastern Australia. The monotremes are a mixture of primitive and advanced traits, a situation known as mosaic evolution. The monotremes share them with all other mammals. The long period as dependent young, the provision of milk, and the way the young learn through play, are all advanced features. After four months they no longer need their mother's milk. At six weeks the babies have fur and are able to leave the burrow for short trips. The young platypus drinks the milk from the mother's skin while she lies on her back. The platypus does not have nipples, but milk comes through small openings in the skin. The mother makes milk for the new babies. When the babies come out of the eggs after about ten days, they hold on to the mother. At the end of the tunnel, she builds a nest out of reeds for her eggs. She blocks the tunnel with earth at several places. When a female platypus is pregnant, the female makes much larger holes, up to 20 m (66 ft) long. It makes these holes in the river bank a little above the water. These holes are between 3 m (10 ft) and 8 m (26 ft) long. When on land, the platypus lives in burrows on the river banks. The Commonwealth of Australia reveres this remarkable mammal so much that it honors the platypus with a place on its 20-cent coin.Platypus' nest with eggs replica at MUSE - Science Museum in Trento Baby platypuses hatch after 10 days and nurse for up to four months before they swim off and forage on their own. ![]() The female platypus lays her eggs in an underground burrow that she digs near the water’s edge. It has no teeth, so the platypus stores its "catch" in its cheek pouches, returns to the surface, mashes up its meal with the help of gravel bits hoovered up enroute, then swallows it all down. The bill also comes equipped with specialized nerve endings, called electroreceptors, which detect tiny electrical currents generated by the muscular contractions of prey. The watertight nostrils on its bill remain sealed so that the animal can stay submerged for up to two minutes as it forages for food. The platypus is a bottom-feeder that uses its beaver-like tail to steer and its webbed feet to propel itself through the water while hunting for insects, shellfish, and worms. While the platypus generally inhabits freshwater rivers, wetlands, and billabongs Down Under, it is also known to venture into brackish estuaries (the combined fresh-and saltwater areas where rivers meet the sea). If its appearance alone somehow fails to impress, the male of the species is also one of the world’s few venomous mammals! Equipped with sharp stingers on the heels of its hind feet, the male platypus can deliver a strong toxic blow to any approaching foe. The platypus is a duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, egg-laying aquatic creature native to Australia.
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