Baby platypuses hatch after 10 days and nurse for up to four months before they swim off and forage on their own. The Commonwealth of Australia reveres this remarkable mammal so much that it honors the platypus with a place on its cent coin.
There is only one other egg-laying mammal in the world. The echidna , a distant cousin of the anteater, also lays eggs and is found in Australia and New Guinea. Both the platypus and the echnida are monotremes, meaning that they lay eggs and have a single opening cloaca for reproduction and elimination of wastes. Home Ocean Facts What is a platypus? When platypuses find something interesting, like shellfish, insects, larvae or worms, they scoop it up in their bills, store it in their cheek pouches and swim to the surface.
Since they only have grinding plates and no teeth, platypuses use any gravel or dirt they scooped up while on the bottom of the waterbed to mash their food into digestible pieces.
Most mammals give birth to live young. Platypuses, however, lay eggs. They are a species of primitive mammals called monotremes. Echidnas, or spiny anteaters, are the only other mammals that lay eggs. When the female platypus is ready to have her young, she will burrow down inside the ground on the riverbank and seal herself into one of her tunnel rooms. Then, she will lay one or two eggs and place them between her rump and her tail to keep them warm. After about 10 days, the eggs hatch and the little, bean-sized babies will nurse for three to four months.
Around the time of weaning, baby platypuses can swim on their own. Platypuses are not endangered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the animals as a " Least Concern ," though the organization admits it has no idea how large or small the platypus population may be. This is due, primarily, to lack of worldwide research and data on the species. Platypuses swim with their front feet and steer with their tails and back feet.
They have waterproof fur, skin that covers their ears and eyes, and noses that seal shut to protect the animals while they are underwater. Though platypuses are made for the water, they can't stay completely submerged. They can only stay underwater for 30 to seconds. Platypus' skeletons resemble those of reptiles. They both have pectoral girdles and splayed legs. There is considerable variation in size among platypus populations. Generally, body size increases with latitude. For instance, a large male platypus in Tasmania can weigh three times as much as an average male in a northern population.
Overall, males are larger than females and can measure 16 percent longer and 40 percent heavier than them. Wet and wonderful. According to the platypusspot.
Humans competing for fresh water poses even more threats to the platypus. Platypuses may also be found in shallow lakes, artificial water sources like water storage lakes, weir pools, ponds, and farm dams. They occasionally dip into brackish areas of estuaries, but mostly stick with freshwater areas.
Adult male platypuses have larger home ranges than females—as long as 9. Females tend to hunt closer to home, and her turf is usually less than 2. Detecting dinner. While they may make repeated short dives of 30 to 60 seconds or so, they can stay underwater for up to 2 minutes. Dive time and depth is reliant on air in its lungs—they usually dive less than 16 feet 5 meters , though they occasionally take deeper dives to about 26 feet 8 meters.
They come to the surface to recover for 10 to 20 seconds between dives. These underwater forays enable it to feed on insect larvae, freshwater shrimp, freshwater crayfish called "yabbies" which it nuzzles out of the riverbed with its snout or catches while swimming , and worms.
It uses cheek pouches to stow its bounty until it reaches the surface, where it can eat. Each day, a platypus needs to eat about 20 percent of its body weight, which requires about 12 hours of looking for food. They swallow soft parts of their prey and spit out the chitinous exoskeletons like the shells of crayfish and insects.
Due to its somewhat limited ability to hold its breath, the platypus forages in more shallow lakes and bodies of water, between 3 and 16 feet 1 and 5 meters deep. Nice digs. Male and female platypuses dig simple burrows along rivers and streams outside the breeding season.
They can also make their home under rock ledges, roots, and debris, where they rest throughout the day. However, pregnant females dig a deeper, more elaborate nesting burrow, with multiple chambers and entrances, called a nursery burrow.
When the female leaves her young behind to forage, she makes a soft covering of soil and debris to plug the opening. Resting burrows are used by males and nonbreeding females. Runs cool. The average body temperature of a platypus is about 90 degrees Fahrenheit 32 degrees Celsius , while most placental mammals run about 99 degrees Fahrenheit 37 degrees Celsius. It is able to maintain this temperature even when foraging for hours in water below 39 degrees Fahrenheit 4 degrees Celsius.
Nocturnal journal. The platypus is generally active at night and dusk, and occasionally active by day. It emerges from its burrow in late afternoon to forage for food.
By early morning, it is ready to re-enter the burrow. One scientist found that platypuses in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria spent 11 to 17 hours holed up in the burrow. Others have found that platypuses can hunt for 10 to 12 hours at a time.
Its high-calorie diet of crustaceans enables the platypus to sleep soundly for up to 14 hours a day! Interesting side note: the platypus spends nearly 60 percent of its daily sleep in deep, brain-active REM sleep in contrast, humans spend about 25 percent of their slumber in that rich, REM state. Pregnant females spend time building a cozy nest, nursing and nurturing their young, and foraging for food. While platypuses are not considered hibernators, they may be inactive for extended periods of time.
Watch out! For the platypus, leaving its burrow is a high-risk proposition, even at night.
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