What is a platypus?

He's a platypus. He don't do much...

In honor of the so-called Platypus Day, don't know why but fans of Phineas and Ferb won't mind about it but paying tribute to Perry the Platypus (a.k.a. Agent P), there's so much to explain about what is a platypus and even a little 47 second science won't work to describe about this semi-aquatic, egg-laying, mammal that some thought it was just a product from a duck and a beaver apart from noticing the bill of the duck and the tail of the beaver. So...gyururururu.....

Some essential facts:

- Scientific name for platypus is ornithorhynchus anatinus. Maybe that's why a lyric that goes Our Ornithorhynchus anatinus brings smiles to the both of us.

- Platypuses have a beaver-like tail, bird-like beak or duck-like bill (whatever you called it), walks like a reptile, and they had webbed feet.

- They can be found at different locations, especially Australia, and their favored habitats are lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams.

- Male platypuses are poisonous, meaning they have a spur of toxins that can kill a dog or cause severe pain to humans. I'm not sure why...

- Platypuses are nocturnal, meaning they're are active at night just like hamsters but unlike hamsters, platypuses sleep in their burrows.

- The reproductive cycle of a platypus is rather unusual because male ones tend to chase their female and grabs the tail of the female platypus before mating. Two-to-three weeks later, the female platypus lay about two or three eggs and incubates it for about 10 days before hatch.

-  Platypuses sweat milk...like what you saw from a Phineas and Ferb episode where Candace and Perry swapped bodies by one of their inventions.

- Platypuses eat frogs, fishes, or insects taken from the aquatic surface with their beak, which is also useful to dig up invertebrates from stream or lake beds. They don't eat underwater but store their food in their cheeks and then eat it at the surface.

- Baby platypuses grow a temporary tooth, which is essential to hatch their way out from their eggs.

- The remains of the ancient platypus species were found in the Patagonian region of South America.

- Platypuses belong to the family of animals called monotremes.

- Some studies pointed out in prehistoric times, humans trapped platypuses for their skins but in the year 1912, there is a law that prohibits the harvesting of platypuses for skins, therefore keeping the platypuses population very very far from extinction.

Sources:

Platypus Facts and Pictures (NatGeo Kids) - http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/platypus/

BBC Nature - Platypus - http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Platypus

Platypus Facts For Kids (Animals Time) - http://animalstime.com/platypus-facts-kids/

Platypus Facts (Conservation Institute) - http://www.conservationinstitute.org/platypus-facts/

So, there we go. Some of the good stuff about what is the platypus and that left me a good mystery that goes...how does a platypus made a gurgling sound like Perry? You know, gyurururururururu...