Males and females become fully grown between ages 12 and 18 months, and they become sexually mature at about age 18 months. RELATED: Can You Have A Platypus As A Pet? (Should You?) The early British settlers called it by many names, such as watermole, duckbill, duckmole. Platypus is its common name because a wood-boring ambrosia beetle already took the scientific name platypus. Its scientific name is Ornithorhynchus anatinus and is derived from ορνιθόρυγχος (ornithorhynkhos), which literally means “ bird snout” in Greek and anatinus, which means “ duck-like” in Latin. Platypuses can be confusing mammals but with the features discussed above, it is clear that they are mammals.Why did someone sew a duck‘s beak onto the body of a beaver-like animal, John? As long as an animal feeds its young ones with milk from their mammary glands, it is out rightly considered a mammal. In fact, it should be noted that platypuses are not the only existing egg-laying mammals. They do not have scales like many reptiles ConclusionĪs discussed above, it is clear that laying eggs does not disqualify an organism from being a mammal. Furthermore, platypuses have fur covering their bodies. The platypuses use their lungs for breathing, just like as it is expected of all mammals. They have body mechanisms that help them keep their temperatures constant in case the temperatures rise or fall. They do not depend on the temperature fluctuations to determine their body temperatures. Besides, platypuses possess other mammalia characteristics such as being warm-blooded. When an animal feeds their young ones with milk from their mammary glands, they are automatically classified as a mammal. How Are Platypuses Mammals If They Lay Eggs? The baby platypuses, therefore, do not suck the milk, they lap it from their mother’s body. The milk is usually extracted from the pores of their skin, and then later collected on the grooves of their stomachs. It should be noted that the mammary glands of the platypuses do not have nipples like many other mammals. At this age, they come out of the burrow and get into the water, where they learn how to swim. The female platypuses take tender care of the young platypuses up to when they around four months old, when they become capable of surviving on their own. They require close supervision from their mother to survive. The hatched platypuses are usually very small. The female then curls around the eggs to ensure that a warm temperature necessary for hatching is retained.Īfter around ten days the eggs are hatched. In most cases, the females lay between one and three eggs. The eggs develop in the female body for about 28 days before they are laid in a burrow. The burrows of female platypuses are usually larger compared to the burrows of the male platypuses because that is where the female rear their young ones. Some of its features, having a close resemblance to a duck, brings a bit of confusion. Its feet are also webbed, just like a duck. Others think of the animal as a bird species because its mouth closely resembles the beak of a duck. The legs of most mammals come from underneath their body structure. The legs of the platypuses come out from the body from the sides, just like reptiles such as crocodiles. They do not lay eggs using their underside like birds. Some people mistakenly classify them as reptiles because they lay egg using their sides, just like reptiles such as snakes and lizards. Monotreme mammals lay eggs, and later hatch them as their means of reproduction. They are classified as monotreme mammals. Interestingly, despite laying eggs, platypuses are mammals. Many people tend to classify platypuses as either reptiles or birds. Is a Platypus a Mammal? A platypus in Australia.
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