A strange creature: Platypus

[Hobbes]

Like all Monotremes it is a mammal that lays aggs. It also has bird like features. Since birds are descended from lizards but newer than mammals, then how does this creature evolve. If birds were descended from mammals (they don't) then it could be some sort of missing link. So where is its place in the evolutionary tree?

[Phier]

http://www.tolweb.org/Mammalia

First the 'beak' should be ignored. Its a HIGHLY specialized sense organ as 'evolved' as anything in the animal kingdom.

Really what we see is another path from the mammal like reptiles (well not quite that far back, but close). So they kept eggs, they kept no nipples, they gained poison, they gained a extremely sensitive electronic sensing device, (the beak).

[Hobbes]

Yes, the beak is an adaptation to their environment (why echidnas have it is still strange though) and does not look like a duck's. But what really interests me is who their ancestor is. I mean we have examples of dog like reptile or even hairy lizards. But I don't know any example of a platypus like reptile.

[Nikos]

Yes, the beak is an adaptation to their environment (why echidnas have it is still strange though) and does not look like a duck's. But what really interests me is who their ancestor is. I mean we have examples of dog like reptile or even hairy lizards. But I don't know any example of a platypus like reptile.

From what I have studied about Monotremes (which isn't a whole lot) we don't know the immediate ancestor of the Platypus. This could mean that the fossil record is incomplete and we simply haven't found it yet, or that the "beak" is a relatively new adaptation. Truly, fascinating animals.

[ThiudareiksGunthigg]

From what I have studied about Monotremes (which isn't a whole lot) we don't know the immediate ancestor of the Platypus. This could mean that the fossil record is incomplete and we simply haven't found it yet, or that the "beak" is a relatively new adaptation. Truly, fascinating animals.

Fossil evidence from the Lightning Ridge opal fields in New South Wales indicate that early platypus-like monotremes had teeth much like the ones still found in juvenile platypuses today. More recent finds of jawbones (found last year IIRC) indicate early platypuses were around as long ago as 120 million years ago.

They are clearly an offshoot of early mammalian evolution, though one that has only survived in Australia. I see them quite regularly on my mother's farm in Tasmania when I go fishing there at Christmas. In fact, one swam literally an inch from my right foot as I was wading up-river fishing last Christmas Eve. I was wearing rubber waders, so he probably didn't even realise I was there (they detect both prey and predators via electro-magnetic sensors in their bills).

Cool little dudes.

[Nikos]

Fossil evidence from the Lightning Ridge opal fields in New South Wales indicate that early platypus-like monotremes had teeth much like the ones still found in juvenile platypuses today. More recent finds of jawbones (found last year IIRC) indicate early platypuses were around as long ago as 120 million years ago.

They are clearly an offshoot of early mammalian evolution, though one that has only survived in Australia. I see them quite regularly on my mother's farm in Tasmania when I go fishing there at Christmas. In fact, one swam literally an inch from my right foot as I was wading up-river fishing last Christmas Eve. I was wearing rubber waders, so he probably didn't even realise I was there (they detect both prey and predators via electro-magnetic sensors in their bills).

Cool little dudes.

Thanks for that info, Mammalian evolution isn't my strong suit.

[Steve Holt]

I also heard on a documentary that it is near impossible to hold them in captivity, as they can go crazy from being kept in glass containers.

[Da Skinna]

God was drunk.

[Adhamh Ashashi]

God was drunk.

Don't be so rude. He was bored.

[jumong]

ancestors found that were closely related were Teinolophos and Steropodon

[Hobbes]

That Steropodon guy looks like him a lot. Still this animal looks like between mammals and reptiles!

[spartan117]

Remember they possess venom, and it is secreted through their claws.

[ThiudareiksGunthigg]

Remember they possess venom, and it is secreted through their claws.

Not through their claws. They have spurs on their ankles and, in the males of the species, these produce a very painful defensin-based toxin.