Platypus

The scientific name of Platypus is Ornithorhynchus anatinus. Its body length is about 60 cm and tail length 18 cm. It is usually found in eastern part of Australia and Tasmania.

During the summer vacation, I traveled with my family to Australia for our annual holiday. We visited Melbourne and Sydney. Luckily the weather was not too cold so we went to the largest zoo in Victoria. In the zoo, we saw many strange animals, such as marsupials and egg-laying mammals. The red kangaroos, koala bears and wombats are marsupials while the duck-billed platypus and short-nosed echidna are egg laying mammals.

We are most interested in the duck-billed platypus which is native in Australia and only found in this continent. We went into the ‘Platypus House’ and there was an aquarium where the platypus lives. Platypus is a nocturnal animal, it only comes out during the early morning and late night. Therefore we waited for a long time before it came out from its hiding place. It swam out swiftly from the burrows towards me, so I had a good look at it. The platypus has small eyes and it has no external ears. It has a bill that resembles aduckbill but is actually an elongated snout covered with soft, moist, leathery skin. The nostrils are at the end of this bill. Its feet are webbed, and tail flat. The body of the platypus is covered with a thick, soft, woolly layer of fur. No wonder it can swim so fast and so smoothly!

I read the instruction board next to the aquarium and learned that the platypus lives in streams, rivers and lakes. It uses its bill to detect preys which include insects, worms and shellfish. Adult males have a hollow, horny spur on the inner side of the hind leg, from which a toxic fluid is ejected and is used as a weapon of defense. Platypuses are shy animals and are seldom seen by observers, even in areas where they gather. They are excellent swimmers and divers and they live in long, winding burrows. These burrows are usually dug by the female platypus in the banks of rivers or streams. The burrows are blocked with earth in several places as fortification against intruders and flooding. At the end of the burrow, which may be as long as 18 m, the female constructs its nest. The nest is made up of weeds, leaves, and grass, and it is used to place the eggs and the young platypus. Sometimes it is even used as a retreat area.

The male platypus is excluded from the nesting burrow. The female lays usually two but sometimes as many as four eggs at one time. The young platypus has no fur when it hatches. The mother platypus uses its tail to clasp the young to its abdomen, enabling them to nurse.

I am very happy to see the platypus swimming freely in the aquarium, however, unfortunately sometimes they are captured as biological curiosities. Luckily hunting of platypuses is forbidden by law in Australia and I wish that the platypus can continue to survive for the next generation.

Passege written by 5E Cynthia Wei