Duck-Billed Platypus
Ty Waterfield, Period 3, 5/16/16
Habitat
Platypus live on land near lakes and rivers. They live in burrows that they dig in the banks of streams that can be as long as 85 feet long! Each platypus his own burrow except for if a female is living with its baby. When mating season comes female platypus will put grass and leaves at the very end of their burrows to use as a nest.
Movement
Platypus mainly swim in river ways and lakes and barely walk on land. They have flat and torpedo like bodies to make it easier to swim and dense fur. They usually don't move on land to get different places and they swim instead.
Body Covering
Platypus have claws on all their feet but the webs on the front feet can be extended past the claws. It folds the webs against the palms when they walk on land or when they're digging in the ground. Males also have a spur behind each ankle that are connected to poison glands which will enlarge during the mating season. Scientists believe that they use the spurs as defense.
Diet
The duck-billed platypus has a very large diet. They eat small aquatic animals, especially crustaceans, insect larvae, fish, and tadpoles. They locate there prey using electroreception, which very few mammals use. Electroreception is where they detect their prey using their preys electric fields. Platypus usually hunt at night for their prey and they are omnivores. The predators of the platypus are foxes, snakes, and crocodiles.
Reproduction
Duck-Billed Platypus' are very passive, only seeing the other sex to mate. Males often fight during the mating season. Once mating is over the female platypus builds a burrow in under a week. She collects wet nesting material to keep her eggs and hatchlings from drying out. The female spends most of its time after the egg hatches with her young in the burrow. As the young grow she more and more leaves them to forage.
Adaptations
The platypus is most active from dusk to dawn. It builds burrows in the stream banks and shelters during the day. It has strong front limbs used for digging and swimming and a torpedo like body.It also has dense waterproof fur and a flattened body so it is excellent for swimming. It unique electroreceptors and touch receptors to get prey underwater since the platypus smell hearing and sight senses are shut down while underwater.
Other Info
- Adult Platypus lack teeth
- Males have spurs on their ankles
- The scientific name of the platypus is Ornithorhynchus anatinus
- Platypus use their bills to scoop up their food
- Platypus burrow's can reach up to 85 ft
- Platypus grow from 16 to 22 inches
Platypus spur ^
Work Cited
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Mammals Marsupials. Danbury: Grolier, 2003. Print.
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image-G38373.html>.
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<http://australianmuseum.net.au/platypus>.