rhamphotheca:

vintagenatgeographic: Duckbill platypus feature

National Geographic | August 1939

rhamphotheca:

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

Photoby Stephen Babka 

The platypus is an improbable mishmash of an animal: It has a furry, otterlike body, a ducklike bill and webbed feet, and a beaverlike paddle tail. Like those other animals platypuses swim well and spend much of their time in the water. Unlike otters or beavers, they lay eggs—one of only two mammals known to do so. Male platypuses also have venomous stingers on their rear feet. These animals burrow near the water’s edge and feed by digging underwater for worms, shellfish, and insects.

(via: National Geo)

animaliagiantkingdom:

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

Chordata > Mammalia > Monotremata > Ornthorhynchidae > Ornithorhynchus

I adopted a platypus, so they sent me a stuffed plat! Isn’t he cute?

What should I name him?

THE DUCK BILLED PLATYPUS BREAKS ALL THE RULES!

rhamphotheca:

so fucking punk rock.

thefrogman:

A pint sized platypus. 

(Source: bolto)

pikarar:

wintysping asked you: What about a platypus? :D

rhamphotheca:

biomedicalephemera: The Ornithorhynchus

This illustration makes me feel like I could train a platypus to beg for treats…they’d probably stab me with their venomous leg-spikes. Well, the males, at least. 

Types of Animal Life. St. George Mivart, 1893.

rhamphotheca:

Platypus Venom

The platypus is one of the few mammals to produce venom. Males have a pair of spurs on their hind limbs. The male’s pair of spurs spits out a cocktail of poisons that, while excruciatingly painful, is not lethal to most animals.

Venom is produced in the crural glands of the male, which are kidney-shaped alveolar glands located in the upper thigh connected by a thin-walled duct to a calcaneus spur on each hind limb. Female platypuses, in common with echidnas, have rudimentary spur buds which do not develop (dropping off before the end of their first year) and lack functional crural glands. The spur is attached to a small bone which allows articulation; the spur can move at a right angle to the limb allowing a greater range of attack than a fixed spur would allow. The spur normally lies flat against the limb but is raised when required.

The crural gland produces a venom secretion containing at least 19 different peptides, in addition to non-protein components…

(read more: Wikipedia)   (photo: Peter Scheunis)

Two of my spoils from A-kon. I don’t know how many of you will recognize the Mega Milk reference…

Guys, this thing is at over 50,000 notes. :I

rhamphotheca:

baby platypus :3