#Does a platypus lay eggs skin#

Commonly, it stays submerged for about one minute, but, if threatened, it can stay underwater for up to five minutes. Sometimes, the platypus stores small prey temporarily in its cheek pouches. Until recently, it was thought that the platypus only located its prey by touch, but it now appears that the platypus ’s bill is also electroreceptive, allowing the animal to detect muscle activity in prey animals. It probes the muddy bottoms with its supersensitive bill to locate its prey. The platypus generally feeds near the bottom of freshwater creeks and rivers. When it decides to dive for food, it can do so quickly, with one swipe of its tail. Typically, before feeding, the creature floats serenely on the surface of the water, resembling a log.

The duck-billed platypus feeds on insect larvae, snails, worms, small fish, and crustaceans it is most active at dawn and dusk. Rather than using these poisonous spurs to attack prey, the platypus only uses them against other platypuses or predators. Like all male members in the order Monotremata, the male platypus has spurs on each ankle connected to poison glands in its thighs. Fortunately for the platypus, its leathery bill is very sensitive and, therefore, is its primary tool in locating prey while underwater. Thus, when the platypus is submerged with its eyes and ears covered and its nose inoperable it relies heavily on its sense of touch. Interestingly, the platypus ’s nostrils, which are located at the end of its bill, can only function when its head is above water as well.

#Does a platypus lay eggs skin#

Underwater, the platypus can use this skin to close its eyes and ears tightly on land, it is able to see and hear quite well. Both are surrounded by deep folds of skin. The platypus ’s eyes and ears have similar modifications.

On land, however, this skin folds back, revealing the claws, thus enabling the animal to dig. When the platypus is in the water, the skin of its webbed forefeet extends beyond these claws, so that it can better use its forefeet to paddle. For instance, on its webbed feet, the five individual digits end in claws. However, since it spends most of its time on land, it has a few physical traits that can be modified depending on its particular location. The platypus ’s flat tail, duck-bill, short legs, and webbed feet are all characteristics enabling it to hunt in aquatic environments. Like other mammals, monotremes have fur, nurse their young with milk, and are warm-blooded. In other mammals, the cloaca is divided into an anus and genitourinary passages. Monotremes, like all reptiles, also have a cloaca, a single opening through which feces, urine, and sperm or eggs pass. In monotremes, the eggs are fertilized internally, but are incubated and hatched outside the body. In other mammals, the young are conceived within the female ’s body and are born alive. For example, monotremes are the only egg-laying mammals. All three species in the order Monotremata are considered primitive, combining mammalian features with those of lower orders of vertebrates such as reptiles. There is only one species of platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, which is comprised of four subspecies. The families are Tachyglossidae (the spiny anteaters or echidnas) and Ornithorhynchidae (the platypus).

The platypus is classified in the order Monotremata (meaning single hole), consisting of two families and three genera. The rest of its time is spent in burrows, which it digs in the river banks. Commonly referred to as the duck-billed platypus, it spends several hours each day in the creeks and rivers of eastern Australia and Tasmania. The platypus measures around 17.7 in (45 cm) in length, with its tail adding an additional 5.9 in (15 cm). Its eyes are very small, and it does not have external ears. While the fur on its back is dense, bristly, and reddish or blackish brown, the fur on its underbelly is soft and gray. It also has short, powerful legs and webbed feet. Physically, it looks like a mole or otter, with a beaver ’s flattened tail and a duck ’s bill. The platypus is an egg laying mammal that is well adapted to the water.