When the duck-billed platypus was first discovered back in 1799, many people thought the animal was so strange that it must be a joke played by the biologist who discovered it George Shaw. The reason that platypuses seem so strange is that they are the last survivors of a group of mammals called monotremes, all but four members of which are now extinct. The discovery of this ancient fossil will help scientists piece together where platypuses came from. An adult platypus, about the size of a house cat, weighs from 3 to 5 pounds (1.5 to 2. At about one meter (more than 3 feet) in length and with powerful teeth (inset: the holotype, a first lower molar), it would have been capable of killing much larger prey, such as lungfish and even small turtles, than its much smaller living relative. DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS: OrnithorhynchidaePHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICSA platypus, at first glance, resembles an otter with a ducks bill on its face and a beavers tail in back. It has thick, waterproof fur all over its body (except for the feet and bill) that insulates the animal and. This image shows Obdurodon tharalkooschild, a middle to late Cenozoic giant toothed platypus from the the World Heritage fossil deposits of Riversleigh, Australia. The Duck-billed Platypus is about the size of a cat.
It is estimated that the species went extinct between 15 and 5 million years ago. The scientists think that the ancient platypus lived in water like the modern species, but unlike the modern platypus it fed on fish, crayfish and possibly even turtles. Modern adult platypuses don’t have teeth but rather eat their prey of worms and insect larvae by grinding their bill. Scientists have discovered a fossilized tooth in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northwest Queensland, Australia
All duck billed platypus artwork ships within 48 hours and includes a. It gets even odder when you hear that scientists now think that one of its ancient ancestors might have been so big that it fed on fish and even turtles. Shop for duck billed platypus wall art from the worlds greatest living artists. It’s a mammal, but it lays eggs like a reptile and is also one of the world’s only venomous mammals.
The duck-billed platypus is a really odd creature.
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