Wednesday 3 April 2019

Creature Wednesday/Platypus



Good morning all, hope everyone is well. Well it's Wednesday so that means it is creature day and this weeks creature is the Platypus also known as the Duck-billed Platypus.

The Platypus got it's name in 1799 from the Latin platypus anatinus which means flat-footed, duck like creature.

They are an egg laying mammal, their eggs hatch after only 10 days, they lay only 2 eggs at a time and the eggs cling to their fur.

A baby platypus is called a baby platypus, the mother's milk ozzes out onto it''s fur and the baby licks it off the fur, so the baby doesn't suckle. It take between 3 & 4 months for the baby to be weaned by the time it is weaned it can swim.

They are found in the Eastern states of Australia as well as in the state of Tasmania.

A Platypus has no stomach.

Their predators are crocodiles, hawks, eagles, owls as well as foxes, dogs & cats. To protect themselves they have venom and can bite, thankfully their venom isn't deadly to humans although it will cause swelling and extreme pain that can last weeks.

They grow to around 43cm for females and 50cm for males, they weight around 16kgs for females and 24kgs for males. They live in the wild for around 8-10yrs but in captivity they can live up to 17yrs.


6 comments:

  1. Very interesting critter! Thanks for postingšŸ˜³

    ReplyDelete
  2. How can they have no stomach? That one baffles me. Does their throat go right into intestines? Weird is right. They are rather cute, though. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have to admit I've been curious about the platypus. I was pretty surprised to hear that they have no stomach.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The platypus always fascinated our teachers, so this one I was right with ya.


    Until the stomach part. Guess the nuns didn't know everything.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ian.......Yes it is

    Rita.......Yes it baffles me too

    Karen.....Yes that is just weird

    Chris.....Yeah no stomach is really weird

    ReplyDelete

Working Life in the 1890's Australia

Ok this week we are looking at farming in the 1890’s Australia with the invention of milking machines dairy farmers were encouraged to use t...