MAMMALIA: MONOTREMATA: ORNITHORHYNICIDAE: Ornithorhynchus

Ornithorhynchus anatinus Blumenbach, 1800   

Duckbilled platypus

Photos & text by Dr. Robert Sprackland.

Range: Freshwater streams and rivers of southeastern Australia, including Tasmania.

Diagnosis: An unmistakable animal with broad, webbed feet, a flat blunt tail that is shorter than the body, and the characteristic duck-like snout.

Description: 

 
The skeleton of a platypus showing the toothless, bony "duck's bill." Photographed at the Natural History Museum, London.

Natural History: Platypuses are small, shy mammals that live in burrows along fresh water streams and lakes. They swim and dive well, and forage for soft-bodied invertebrates in the silt underwater. They are crepuscular in habits. Platypus males have a large claw on each foot that is capable of delivering venom; its specific use is a matter of controversy.

Specimen photographed at the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt.

Platypuses are restricted to forested areas of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Reproduction: Platypuses lay one to three eggs in August through early November, and eggs hatch in about ten days. They nurse for about four months, at which time they emerge from the nest and begin to forage for themselves.

Taxonomy & Relationships: The only other living monotremes are the spiny anteaters or echidnas of the family Tachyglossidae. Fossil platypuses have been found in eastern Australia, some in excellent states of preservation, some partially opalized.

Variation:

Additional Comments:

Type Specimen:

 Literature: Click on book to order.

Nowak, Ronald. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World, Fifth Edition. Two volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN: 0-8018-3970-X.
 

Strahan, Ronald (editor). 1995. Mammals of Australia. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN: 1-56098-673-5