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Platypus
Species of mammal

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a unique semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal native to eastern Australia and Tasmania. As the only living species of its family Ornithorhynchidae, it shares the group of egg-laying mammals called monotremes with echidnas. The platypus uses electrolocation to detect prey underwater and is one of the few venomous mammals. It holds cultural significance in Australia and appears on the Australian twenty-cent coin. Though legally protected since 1912, the platypus is listed as a near-threatened species by the IUCN and faces risks from habitat destruction, prompting calls to upgrade its conservation status.

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Taxonomy and naming

See also: Plural form of words ending in -us § Platypus

Australian Aboriginal people name or have named the platypus in various ways depending on Australian indigenous languages and dialects. Among the names found: boondaburra, mallingong, tambreet, watjarang1 (names in Yass, Murrumbidgee, and Tumut),2 tohunbuck (region of Goomburra, Darling Downs),3 dulaiwarrung4 or dulai warrung (Woiwurrung language, Wurundjeri, Victoria),5 djanbang (Bundjalung, Queensland),6 djumulung (Yuin language, Yuin, New South Wales),7 maluŋgaŋ (ngunnawal language, Ngunnawal, Australian Capital Territory8), biladurang, wamul, dyiimalung, oornie, dungidany (Wiradjuri language, Wiradjuri, Vic, NSW),9 oonah,10 etc. The name chosen and approved in Palawa kani (reconstructed Tasmanian language) is larila.11

When the platypus was first encountered by Europeans in 1798, a pelt and sketch were sent back to Great Britain by Captain John Hunter, the second Governor of New South Wales.12 British scientists' initial hunch was that the attributes were a hoax.13 George Shaw, who produced the first description of the animal in the Naturalist's Miscellany in 1799, stated it was impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature,14 and Robert Knox believed it might have been produced by some Asian taxidermist.15 It was thought somebody had sewn a duck's beak onto the body of a beaver-like animal. Shaw even took a pair of scissors to the dried skin to check for stitches.1617

The common name "platypus" literally means 'flat-foot', deriving from the Greek word platúpous (πλατύπους),18 from platús (πλατύς 'broad, wide, flat')1920 and poús (πούς 'foot').2122 Shaw initially assigned the species the Linnaean name Platypus anatinus when he described it,23 but the genus term was quickly discovered to already be in use as the name of the wood-boring ambrosia beetle genus Platypus.24 It was independently described as Ornithorhynchus paradoxus by Johann Blumenbach in 1800 (from a specimen given to him by Sir Joseph Banks)25 and following the rules of priority of nomenclature, it was later officially recognised as Ornithorhynchus anatinus.26

There is no universally agreed plural form of "platypus" in the English language. Scientists generally use "platypuses" or simply "platypus". Alternatively, the term "platypi" is also used for the plural, although this is a form of pseudo-Latin;27 going by the word's Greek roots the plural would be "platypodes". Early British settlers called it by many names, such as "watermole", "duckbill", and "duckmole".28 Occasionally it is specifically called the "duck-billed platypus".

The scientific name Ornithorhynchus anatinus literally means 'duck-like bird-snout',29 deriving its genus name from the Greek root ornith- (όρνιθ ornith or ὄρνις órnīs 'bird')30 and the word rhúnkhos (ῥύγχος 'snout', 'beak').31 Its species name is derived from Latin anatinus ('duck-like') from anas 'duck'.3233 The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypic taxon of its family (Ornithorhynchidae).34

Description

Most of the platypus' small streamlined body is covered with short, dense, brown, fur that traps a layer of insulating air to keep the animal warm, but in and out of water.353637: 1  The fur coat is waterproof and consists of flattened guard hairs and curvy underfur hairs.3839: 2  It is also biofluorescent and glows cyan and green when under ultraviolet light.40 The duck-like bill consists of a long snout and lower jaw which is covered in soft skin. The nostrils are located near the tip of the snout's dorsal surface, while the eyes and ears are just behind the snout in a groove which closes underwater.41 The platypus's wide and flatten tail is compared to a beaver's but is furry rather than scaly.42 It stores fat reserves and can act as a rudder during swimming.4344: 4  The legs are shorts and have a sprawling stance. Webbing is more significant on the front feet, which in land walking are folded up in knuckle-walking to protect the webbing.45: 2, 4 46

The platypus has a interclavicle in the shoulder girdle, a trait which they share in common with reptiles.47: 7  As in many other aquatic and semiaquatic vertebrates, the bones show osteosclerosis, increasing their density to provide ballast.48 Modern adult platypuses lack teeth and instead have heavily keratinised food-grinding pads.49 Young have one premolar and two molars) on each maxillae and three molars on the dentaries. Platypus nestlings have small The first upper and third lower cheek teeth, with only one major cusp, while the rest have two.50 They lose their teeth around the time they leave their natal burrow.51

Male platypuses have an average length of 50 cm (20 in) and weight of 1,700 g (3.7 lb), while females are the smaller with an average length of 43 cm (17 in) and weight of 900 g (2.0 lb).52 The species follows Bergmann's rule, with individuals getting larger farther south where it is colder, though there are local variations.53 The platypus has an average body temperature of about 32 °C (90 °F), lower than the 37 °C (99 °F) typical of placental mammals.54 Research suggests this has been a gradual adaptation to harsh environmental conditions among the few marginal surviving monotreme species, rather than a general characteristic of past monotremes.5556

Senses

Monotremes are the only mammals (apart from the Guiana dolphin57) known to have a sense of electroreception.5859 The playtpus relies on electrolocation when feeding, as the eyes, ears, and nose are closed while underwater.6061 Digging in the bottom of streams with its bill, its electroreceptors detect tiny electric currents generated by the muscular contractions of its prey.62 Experiments have shown the platypus will even react to an "artificial shrimp" if a small electric current is passed through it.63

The 40,000 electroreceptors are located arranged in rows in the skin of the bill from front to back, while mechanoreceptors for touch are uniformly distributed across the bill. The electrosensory area of the cerebral cortex is in the tactile somatosensory area, and some cortical cells receive input from both electroreceptors and mechanoreceptors, suggesting the platypus feels electric fields like touches. These receptors in the bill dominate the somatotopic map of the platypus brain, in the same way human hands dominate the Penfield homunculus map.6465 The platypus can feel the direction of an electric source, perhaps by comparing differences in signal strength across the sheet of electroreceptors, enhanced by the characteristic side-to-side motion of the animal's head while hunting. It may also be able to determine the distance of moving prey from the time lag between their electrical and mechanical pressure pulses.66 Monotreme electrolocation for hunting in murky waters may be tied to their tooth loss. The extinct Obdurodon was electroreceptive, but unlike the modern platypus it foraged in open water.67

The eyes of the platypus have basal traits found in lungfish and amphibians, such as scleral cartilage, and double cones with droplets.68 The platypus's eyes are small and shut under water, though several features indicate its ancestors relied on vision. As with other aquatic mammals, the eye has a flattened cornea and surrounding lens, while the posterior surface of the lens is sharp inclined. A temporal (ear side) concentration of retinal ganglion cells, important for binocular vision, indicates a vestigial role in predation, though the actual visual acuity is insufficient for such activities. Limited acuity is matched by low cortical magnification, a small lateral geniculate nucleus, and a large optic tectum, suggesting that the visual midbrain plays a more important role than the visual cortex, as in some rodents. These features suggest that the platypus has adapted to an aquatic and nocturnal lifestyle, developing its electrosensory system at the cost of its visual system. This contrasts with the small number of electroreceptors in the short-beaked echidna, which dwells in dry environments, while the long-beaked echidna, which lives in wetter habitats is intermediate between the other two monotremes.69

The ears of the platypus are entirely adapted for airborne hearing.70 As in all true mammals, is has three middle ear bones, though the cochlea lacks spirals,71 but is descripted as "well organised". Within the cochlea, their are rows of inner and outer hair cells. Like in placental mammals, the outer hair cells of the platypus are adapted for hearing high frequencies, suggesting it is an ancestral mammalian trait. However it also possesses more rows of inner hair cells.72 The olfactory (smelling) systems of the platypus and the echidna independently evolved from an ancestor with less advanced smelling. The main olfactory bulb of the platypus lacks the complex layers of the echidna while both the piriform cortex and flaps (lamella) are simpler. Monotremes differ from placental mammals in that their mitral cells are distributed throughout the outer plexiform layer of the olfactory bulb rather than packed as a monolayer.73

Venom

Main article: Platypus venom

While both male and female platypuses are born with back ankle spurs, only the males retain them into adulthood.74 Similar spurs are found on many archaic mammal groups, indicating that this was an ancient general characteristic among mammals.75 The spurs of the male injects venom, which is powerful enough to kill dogs and it can inflict pain in humans.76 Starting from the wounded area, the affect limb develops edema (swelling via fluid buildup) which can lead to an excruciating hyperalgesia (heightened sensitivity to pain) which can last as long as months.77

The venom is composed largely of defensin-like proteins (DLPs) produced by the immune system, some of which are unique to the species78 It is produced in a kidney-shaped alveolar glands located in each of the thighs of the hind limbs and connected to the spur.79 The venomous spurs of male platypus serve as weapon in battles with other males for breeding.8081

Distribution and habitat

The playtpus is native to the freshwaters of eastern Australia, from Queenland to Tasmania, and inhabits both tropical lowlands and subalpine zones.8283 It was considered extinct on the South Australian mainland, with the last sighting recorded at Renmark in 1975.84 In the 1980s, John Wamsley created a platypus breeding program in Warrawong Sanctuary (see below), which subsequently closed.8586 In 2017 there were some unconfirmed sightings downstream from the sanctuary,87 and in October 2020 a nesting platypus was filmed inside the recently reopened sanctuary.88

There is a population on Kangaroo Island89 introduced in the 1920s, said to stand at 150 individuals in the Rocky River region of Flinders Chase National Park. In the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, large portions of the island burnt, decimating wildlife. However, SA Department for Environment and Water recovery teams worked to reinstate their habitat, with a number of sightings reported by April 2020.90 The platypus is no longer found in the main Murray–Darling Basin, possibly due to declining water quality from land clearing and irrigation91 although it is found in the Goulburn River in Victoria.92 Along the coastal river systems, its distribution is unpredictable: absent in some relatively healthy rivers, but present in some quite degraded ones, for example the lower Maribyrnong.93

Ecology and behaviour

The platypus is an excellent swimmer and spends much of its time in the water foraging for food. It has a swimming style unique among mammals,94 propelling itself by alternate strokes of the front feet, while the webbed hind feet are held against the body and only used for steering, along with the tail.95 It can maintain its relatively low body temperature of about 32 °C (90 °F) while foraging for hours in water below 5 °C (41 °F).96 Dives normally last around 30 seconds, with an estimated aerobic limit of 40 seconds, with 10 to 20 seconds at the surface between dives.9798 The platypus rests in a short, straight burrow in the riverbank about 30 cm (12 in) above water level, its oval entrance-hole often hidden under a tangle of roots.99 It may sleep up to 14 hours per day, after half a day of diving.100

In captivity, platypuses have survived to 30 years of age, and wild specimens have been recaptured when 24 years old. Mortality rates for adults in the wild appear to be low.101 Natural predators include snakes, water rats, goannas, hawks, owls, and eagles. Low platypus numbers in northern Australia are possibly due to predation by crocodiles.102 The introduction of red foxes in 1845 for sport hunting may have had some impact on its numbers on the mainland.103 The platypus is generally nocturnal and crepuscular, but can be active on overcast days.104105 Its habitat bridges rivers and the riparian zone, where it finds both prey and river banks to dig resting and nesting burrows.106 It may have a range of up to 7 km (4.3 mi), with a male's home range overlapping those of three or four females.107

Diet

The platypus is a carnivore, feeding on annelid worms, insect larvae, freshwater shrimp, and yabby (crayfish) that it digs out of the riverbed with its snout or catches while swimming. It carries prey to the surface in cheek-pouches before eating it.108 It eats about 20% of its own weight each day, which requires it to spend an average of 12 hours daily looking for food.109

Reproduction

The species has a single breeding season between June and October, with some local variation.110 Investigations have found both resident and transient platypuses, and suggest a polygynous mating system.111 Females are believed to become sexually mature in their second year, with breeding observed in animals over nine years old.112 During copulation, the male grasps the female's tail with his bill, wraps his tail around her, then grips her neck or shoulder, everts his penis through his cloaca, and inserts it into her urogenital sinus.113 He takes no part in nesting, living in his year-long resting burrow. After mating, the female constructs a deep, elaborate nesting burrow up to 20 m (65 ft) long.114 She tucks fallen leaves and reeds underneath her curled tail, dragging them to the burrow to soften the tunnel floor with folded wet leaves, and to line the nest at the end with bedding.115

The male platypus has penile spines and an asymmetrical glans penis, with the right side smaller than the left.116 The female has two ovaries, but only the left one is functional.117118 She lays one to three (usually two) small, leathery eggs (similar to those of reptiles), about 11 mm (7⁄16 in) in diameter and slightly rounder than bird eggs.119 The eggs develop in utero for about 28 days, with only about 10 days of external incubation (in contrast to a chicken egg, which spends about one day in tract and 21 days externally).120 The female curls around the incubating eggs, which develop in three phases.121 In the first, the embryo has no functional organs and relies on the yolk sac for sustenance, until the sac is absorbed.122 During the second phase, the digits develop, and in the last phase, the egg tooth appears.123 At first, European naturalists could hardly believe that the female platypus lays eggs, but this was finally confirmed by William Hay Caldwell in 1884.124125

Most mammal zygotes go through holoblastic cleavage, splitting into multiple divisible daughter cells. However, monotremes like the platypus, along with reptiles and birds, undergo meroblastic cleavage, in which the ovum does not split completely. The cells at the edge of the yolk remain continuous with the egg's cytoplasm, allowing the yolk and embryo to exchange waste and nutrients with the egg through the cytoplasm.126

There is no official term for platypus young, but the term "platypup" sees unofficial use, as does "puggle".127128 Newly hatched platypuses are vulnerable, blind, and hairless, and are fed by the mother's milk, that provides all the requirements for growth and development.129130 The platypus's mammary glands lack teats, with milk released through pores in the skin. The milk pools in grooves on the mother's abdomen, allowing the young to lap it up.131132 After they hatch, the offspring are milk-fed for three to four months.

During incubation and weaning, the mother initially leaves the burrow only for short periods to forage. She leaves behind her a number of thin soil plugs along the length of the burrow, possibly to protect the young from predators; pushing past these on her return squeezes water from her fur and allows the burrow to remain dry.133 After about five weeks, the mother begins to spend more time away from her young, and at around four months, the young emerge from the burrow.134 A platypus is born with teeth, but these drop out at a very early age, leaving the horny plates it uses to grind food.135

Evolution

Platypus

Echidnas

 live birth 

Marsupials

 true placenta 

Placentals

Evolutionary relationships between the platypus and other mammals136

The platypus and other monotremes were very poorly understood, and some of the 19th century myths that grew up around them – for example, that the monotremes were "inferior" or quasireptilian – still endure.137 In 1947, William King Gregory theorised that placental mammals and marsupials may have diverged earlier, and a subsequent branching divided the monotremes and marsupials, but later research and fossil discoveries have suggested this is incorrect.138139 In fact, modern monotremes are the survivors of an early branching of the mammal tree, and a later branching is thought to have led to the marsupial and placental groups.140141 Molecular clock and fossil dating suggest platypuses split from echidnas around 19–48 million years ago.142

The oldest discovered fossil of the modern platypus dates back to about 100,000 years ago during the Quaternary period, though a limb bone of Ornithorhynchus is known from Pliocene-aged strata.143 The extinct monotremes Teinolophos and Steropodon from the Cretaceous were once thought to be closely related to the modern platypus,144 but are now considered more basal taxa.145 The fossilised Steropodon was discovered in New South Wales and is composed of an opalised lower jawbone with three molar teeth (whereas the adult contemporary platypus is toothless). The molar teeth were initially thought to be tribosphenic, which would have supported a variation of Gregory's theory, but later research has suggested, while they have three cusps, they evolved under a separate process.146 The fossil jaw of Teinolophos is thought to be about 110 million years old, making it the oldest mammal fossil found in Australia. Unlike the modern platypus (and echidnas), Teinolophos lacked a beak.147

In 2024, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)-aged fossil specimens of actual early platypus relatives were recovered from the same rocks as Steropodon, including the basal Opalios and the more derived Dharragarra, the latter of which may be the oldest member of the platypus stem-lineage, as it retains the same dental formula found in Cenozoic platypus relatives.148 Monotrematum and Patagorhynchus, two other fossil relatives of the platypus, are known from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) and the mid-Paleocene of Argentina, indicating that some monotremes managed to colonize South America from Australia when the two continents were connected via Antarctica. These are also considered potential members of the platypus stem-lineage.149150151 The closest fossil relative of the platypus was Obdurodon, known from the late Oligocene to the Miocene of Australia. It closely resembled the modern platypus, aside from the presence of molar teeth.152 A fossilised tooth of the giant platypus Obdurodon tharalkooschild was dated 5–15 million years ago. Judging by the tooth, the animal measured 1.3 metres long, making it the largest platypus on record.153

The loss of teeth in the modern platypus has long been enigmatic, as a distinctive lower molar tooth row was previously present in its lineage for over 95 million years. Even its closest relative, Obdurodon, which otherwise closely resembles the platypus, retained this tooth row. More recent studies indicate that this tooth loss was a geologically very recent event, occurring only around the Plio-Pleistocene (around 2.5 million years ago), when the rakali, a large semiaquatic rodent, colonized Australia from New Guinea. The platypus, which previously fed on a wide array of hard and soft-bodied prey, was outcompeted by the rakali for hard-bodied prey such as crayfish and mussels. This competition may have selected for the loss of teeth in the platypus and their replacement by horny pads, as a way of specializing for softer-bodied prey, over which the rakali did not compete with it.154

Genome

Because of the early divergence from the therian mammals and the low numbers of extant monotreme species, the platypus is a frequent subject of research in evolutionary biology. In 2004, researchers at the Australian National University discovered that the platypus has ten sex chromosomes, compared with two (XY) in most other mammals. These ten chromosomes form five unique pairs of XY in males and XX in females, i.e. males are X1Y1X2Y2X3Y3X4Y4X5Y5.155 One of the X chromosomes of the platypus has great homology to the bird Z chromosome.156 The platypus genome also has both reptilian and mammalian genes associated with egg fertilisation.157158 Though the platypus lacks the mammalian sex-determining gene SRY, a study found that the mechanism of sex determination is the AMH gene on the oldest Y chromosome.159160 A draft version of the platypus genome sequence was published in Nature on 8 May 2008, revealing both reptilian and mammalian elements, as well as two genes found previously only in birds, amphibians, and fish. More than 80% of the platypus's genes are common to the other mammals whose genomes have been sequenced.161 An updated genome, the most complete on record, was published in 2021, together with the genome of the short-beaked echidna.162

Conservation

Status and threats

Except for its loss from the state of South Australia, the platypus occupies the same general distribution as it did prior to European settlement of Australia. However, local changes and fragmentation of distribution due to human modification of its habitat are documented. Its historical abundance is unknown and its current abundance difficult to gauge, but it is assumed to have declined in numbers, although as of 1998 was still being considered as common over most of its current range.163 The species was extensively hunted for its fur until the early years of the 20th century. Although the species gained legal protections beginning in Victoria in 1890164 and throughout Australia by 1912,165 until about 1950 it was still at risk of drowning in the nets of inland fisheries.166 The use of opera house traps for catching yabbies by recreational fishers is banned in the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, and restricted in NSW and Queensland, due to causing the drowning death of platypuses and other non-target species.167

The International Union for Conservation of Nature recategorised its status as "near threatened" in 2016.168 The species is protected by law, but the only state in which it is listed as endangered is South Australia, under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. In November 2020 a recommendation was made to list the platypus as a vulnerable species across all states169 with a vulnerable listing being made official in Victoria under the state's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 on 10 January 2021.170

Habitat destruction

The platypus is not considered to be in immediate danger of extinction, because conservation measures have been successful, but it could be adversely affected by habitat disruption caused by dams, irrigation, pollution, netting, and trapping.171 Reduction of watercourse flows and water levels through excessive droughts and extraction of water for industrial, agricultural, and domestic supplies are also considered a threat. The IUCN lists the platypus on its Red List as "Near Threatened"172 as assessed in 2016, when it was estimated that numbers had reduced by about 30 percent on average since European settlement. The animal is listed as endangered in South Australia, but it is not covered at all under the federal EPBC Act.173174

Researchers have worried for years that declines have been greater than assumed.175 In January 2020, researchers from the University of New South Wales presented evidence that the platypus is at risk of extinction, due to a combination of extraction of water resources, land clearing, climate change and severe drought.176177 The study predicted that, considering current threats, the animals' abundance would decline by 47–66% and metapopulation occupancy by 22–32% over 50 years, causing "extinction of local populations across about 40% of the range". Under projections of climate change projections to 2070, reduced habitat due to drought would lead to 51–73% reduced abundance and 36–56% reduced metapopulation occupancy within 50 years respectively. These predictions suggested that the species would fall under the "Vulnerable" classification. The authors stressed the need for national conservation efforts, which might include conducting more surveys, tracking trends, reduction of threats and improvement of river management to ensure healthy platypus habitat.178 Co-author Gilad Bino is concerned that the estimates of the 2016 baseline numbers could be wrong, and numbers may have been reduced by as much as half already.179

A November 2020 report by scientists from the University of New South Wales, funded by a research grant from the Australian Conservation Foundation in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund Australia and the Humane Society International Australia revealed that that platypus habitat in Australia had shrunk by 22 per cent in the previous 30 years, and recommended that the platypus should be listed as a threatened species under the EPBC Act.180181 Declines in population had been greatest in NSW, in particular in the Murray–Darling basin.182183

Disease

Platypuses generally suffer from few diseases in the wild; however, as of 2008 there was concern in Tasmania about the potential impacts of a disease caused by the fungus Mucor amphibiorum. The disease (termed mucormycosis) affects only Tasmanian platypuses, and had not been observed in platypuses in mainland Australia. Affected platypuses can develop skin lesions or ulcers on various parts of their bodies, including their backs, tails, and legs. Mucormycosis can kill platypuses, death arising from secondary infection and by affecting the animals' ability to maintain body temperature and forage efficiently. The Biodiversity Conservation Branch at the Department of Primary Industries and Water collaborated with NRM north and University of Tasmania researchers to determine the impacts of the disease on Tasmanian platypuses, as well as the mechanism of transmission and spread of the disease.184

Wildlife sanctuaries

Much of the world was introduced to the platypus in 1939 when National Geographic Magazine published an article on the platypus and the efforts to study and raise it in captivity. The latter is a difficult task, and only a few young have been successfully raised since, notably at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria. The leading figure in these efforts was David Fleay, who established a platypusary (a simulated stream in a tank) at the Healesville Sanctuary, where breeding was successful in 1943.185 In 1972, he found a dead baby of about 50 days old, which had presumably been born in captivity, at his wildlife park at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, Queensland.186 Healesville repeated its success in 1998 and again in 2000 with a similar stream tank.187 Since 2008, platypus has bred regularly at Healesville,188 including second-generation (captive born themselves breeding in captivity).189 Taronga Zoo in Sydney bred twins in 2003, and breeding was again successful there in 2006.190

Captivity

As of 2019, the only platypuses in captivity outside of Australia are in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in the U.S. state of California.191192 Three attempts were made to bring the animals to the Bronx Zoo, in 1922, 1947, and 1958. Of these, only two of the three animals introduced in 1947, Penelope and Cecil,193 lived longer than eighteen months.194

Human interactions

Usage

Aboriginal Australians used to hunt platypuses for food (their fatty tails being particularly nutritious), while, after colonisation, Europeans hunted them for fur from the late 19th century until 1912, when it was prohibited by law.195 In addition, European researchers captured and killed platypus or removed their eggs, partly in order to increase scientific knowledge, but also to gain prestige and outcompete rivals from different countries.196

Cultural references

The platypus has been a subject in the Dreamtime stories of Aboriginal Australians, some of whom believed the animal was a hybrid of a duck and a water rat.197: 57–60 

According to one story of the upper Darling River,198 the major animal groups, the land animals, water animals and birds, all competed for the platypus to join their respective groups, but the platypus ultimately decided to not join any of them, feeling that he did not need to be part of a group to be special,199: 83–85  and wished to remain friends with all of those groups.200 Another Dreaming story emanate of the upper Darling tells of a young duck which ventured too far, ignoring the warnings of her tribe, and was kidnapped by a large water-rat called Biggoon. After managing to escape after some time, she returned and laid two eggs which hatched into strange furry creatures, so they were all banished and went to live in the mountains.201

The platypus is also used by some Aboriginal peoples as a totem, which is to them "a natural object, plant or animal that is inherited by members of a clan or family as their spiritual emblem", and the animal holds special meaning as a totem animal for the Wadi Wadi people, who live along the Murray River. Because of their cultural significance and importance in connection to country, the platypus is protected and conserved by these Indigenous peoples.202

The platypus has often been used as a symbol of Australia's cultural identity. In the 1940s, live platypuses were given to allies in the Second World War, in order to strengthen ties and boost morale.203

Platypuses have been used several times as mascots: Syd the platypus was one of the three mascots chosen for the Sydney 2000 summer Olympics along with an echidna and a kookaburra,204 Expo Oz the platypus was the mascot for World Expo 88, which was held in Brisbane in 1988,205 and Hexley the platypus is the mascot for the Darwin operating system, the BSD-based core of macOS and other operating systems from Apple Inc.206

Since the introduction of decimal currency to Australia in 1966, the embossed image of a platypus, designed and sculpted by Stuart Devlin, has appeared on the reverse (tails) side of the 20-cent coin.207 The platypus has frequently appeared in Australian postage stamps, most recently the 2015 "Native Animals" series and the 2016 "Australian Animals Monotremes" series.208209

In the American animated series Phineas and Ferb, the title characters own a pet bluish-green platypus named Perry who, unknown to them, is a secret agent. Such choices were inspired by media underuse, as well as to exploit the animal's striking appearance;210 additionally, show creator Dan Povenmire, who also wrote the character's theme song, said that its opening lyrics are based on the introductory sentence of the Platypus article on Wikipedia, copying the "semiaquatic egg-laying mammal" phrase word for word and appending the phrase "of action";211 however, the article did not include "egg-laying mammal" in the lead sentence until 2014, several years after the song released. As a character, Perry has been well received by both fans and critics.212213 Coincidentally, real platypuses show a similar cyan colour when seen under ultraviolet lighting.214

See also

Footnotes

Citations

Books

Documentaries

References

  1. "Platypus names (including "What's the plural of platypus?") - Australian Platypus Conservancy". platypus.asn.au. 6 March 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2024. https://platypus.asn.au/platypus-names-including-whats-the-plural-of-platypus/ ↩

  2. "Platypus | Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland". Retrieved 3 October 2024. https://wildlife.org.au/news-resources/educational-resources/species-profiles/mammals/platypus/ ↩

  3. "Platypus | Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland". Retrieved 3 October 2024. https://wildlife.org.au/news-resources/educational-resources/species-profiles/mammals/platypus/ ↩

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