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Travel The last artists crafting a Thai royal treasure. On the plus side, scientists think that this venom can one day be used to help treat diabetes. A veterinarian looks at an x-ray of a platypus. Almost all animals use a stomach to digest their food.
But like the spiny echidna, the platypus has a gullet — the passage that food normally uses to go from the mouth to the stomach — that connects directly to its intestines. No stomach needed to digest food. The platypus and the beaver look like tail twins!
But the platypus doesn't use its tail to move through the water. It uses its tail as a place to store body fat in case of a food shortage. And the female platypus also uses her tail to hold her eggs against her body. Even though platypuses lay eggs, they also produce milk for their babies. But they don't do it the same way other animals do. The bill of a platypus, sometimes called a duck-billed platypus, has a smooth texture that feels like suede.
It is also flexible and rubbery. The skin of the bill holds thousands of receptors that help the platypus navigate underwater and detect movement of potential food, such as shrimp. Platypuses live in only one, small area of the world. These creatures make their homes in the freshwater areas that flow throughout the island of Tasmania and the eastern and southeastern coast of Australia. While they are in the water a lot, they will also waddle onto the riverbanks to dig burrows with their claws.
These burrows are tunnels that have rooms or chambers. Platypuses also live under rock ledges, roots or debris. Though they exist on only one side of one continent, platypuses weather many climate extremes.
They have been found in plateaus, lowlands, tropical rainforests, and the cold mountains of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. Their waterproof, thick fur keeps platypuses warm in chilly temperatures, and their big tails store extra fat for energy. Platypuses usually spend their time hunting for food, and a hunt can last 10 to 12 hours. They are most active during nighttime and dusk, because they are nocturnal.
This means they sleep during the day. When not hunting, they stay in their burrows. Platypuses are carnivorous, which means they eat meat but not plants. They hunt for their food in the water where they live. As they swim, they try to detect food along the muddy bottom of the river, stream, pond or lake using their sensitive bills.
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.
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