The Platypus

One of the strangest animal we know

Day 112 / 365

Fans of the show Phineas and Ferb would know Perry the Platypus, who in the show lived a double life as a secret agent. What most of them might not know is that real life platypus is just as impressive, if not more.

The appearance of the platypus is unusual to say the least. It seems to be a combination of several different animals

• It has a bill like a duck
• It has the tail of a beaver
• It has otter like fur
• It’s feet are webbed

Platypus is a mammal, but it lays eggs! everything about this animal seems like a big fuck you to zoologists. And if that’s not badass enough, it’s ankles contain a venom powerful enough to kill a dog

This animal is so strange, it doesn’t come as a surprise that many scientists first thought that this animal was just a hoax. Here’s what the British scientist George Shaw said about it when he received a specimen from Australia in the 18th Century

“It naturally excites the idea of some deceptive preparation by artificial means. Of all the Mammalia yet known it seems the most extraordinary in its conformation; exhibiting the perfect resemblance of the beak of a Duck engrafted on the head of a quadruped”

He basically suggested that someone has taken the bill from a duck and stitched it to the body of an otter as a joke!

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Percussive Maintenance