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n When the first skin and a drawing of the Duck BillednPlatypus were sent to Sir Joseph Banks, in London in 1798, from Australia (or NewnHolland, as it was then called), he passed them on to George Shaw, who providednthe earliest description in the Naturalist’s Miscellany (1799). Shaw wasnassistant keeper at the Natural History Museum, and he and other prominentnnaturalists had understandable doubts about its authenticity. You cannot helpnbut sympathise, as nothing remotely like this creature had been seen in Europenbefore.
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| George Shaw’s first illustration of the Platypus – 1799 |
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nIt looks for all the world like an otter with a duck’s beak sewn ontonits snout, a beaver’s tail tacked onto its rear end and with a couple of spursnadded to its back legs, just for good measure. The London naturalists, includingnRobert Knox (later implicated in the Burke and Hare scandal), were right to bencautious and Shaw carefully examined the pelt, looking for surreptitiousnstitching by some crafty oriental hoaxster, but he found nothing untoward.
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| George Shaw – Platypus – General Zoology Vol 1 Pt 1 – 1800 – Shaw’s account of doubts about the Platypus |
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nWhennCaptain John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales, supplied two furthernspecimens, Shaw’s suspicions abated and he gave the new discovery thenscientific name Platypus Anatinus but this was soon changed when it wasnrealised that the name was already applied to the Platypodinae subfamilynof weevils, with the mammal receiving instead the name OrnithorhynchusnAnatinus (from Greek ορνιθόρυγχος ornithorhykhus – ‘bird nosed’nand Latin anatinus – ‘duck-like’) – platypus, by the way, means broad-footed,nfrom the Greek πλατύς platus – ‘broad, flat’ and πούς pousn– ‘foot’ (legend has it that the Greek philosopher Aristocles was given his much more familiar name – Platon– on account of either his squat physique, his flattened forehead or the wide breadth of hisnknowledge, although this is disputed, as Plato was a common-enough name in Athens at the time).
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nThe Greek root of the name could be anclue to the riddle of the plural name of the platypus –is it platypuses ornsimply platypus (following the lead of other animal names, like trout, deer ornsheep)? It can’t be platypi because it’s a Greek rather than a Latin root, sonplatypodes would technically be correct, although somewhat overly pedantic, sonplatypuses seems to be the sensible solution.
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| George Shaw – details of Platypus’ bill and feet – 1800 |
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nThe platypus is just over a footnlong, with the bill accounting for about one and a half inches, this bill isncovered in soft, sensitive skin and only hardens to a horny consistency whenndried. The thick, soft fur is brown, lightening on the underside, the tail is broadnand flattened, the feet are webbed between the five toes, without pads on thenunderside, and furnished with claws.
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| Venom Spurs of the Platypus |
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nThe males have venomous spurs on the rearnlegs, and if injected into a human, this venom is excruciatingly painful,nalthough not fatal, and does not respond to morphine-based pain relief. The youngnfemales (like those other monotremes, the echidnas) form small, bud-like spursnon their legs but these will fall off after about a year, and they also lacknthe crural glands that produce the venom in the males.
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| Platypus |
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nThe platypus lives innrivers and ponds, where it hunts aquatic insects and crustacea bynelectroreception and mechanoreception cells in the skin of the bill that,nrespectively, pick up electric fields generated by the muscular contractions ofnthe prey and vibrations by physical movement. It is believed that, apart fromnmaybe some species of dolphin, platypuses are the only mammals that locatentheir prey by using electrolocation and is a marvellous example of evolution innaction.
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| Platypus |
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nThey live and breed in burrows, laying normally between two and fourneggs, which hatch after being incubated by the female for about ten days. Asnwith echidnas, the platypus lacks teats and the milk is exuded from the skin,ncollecting in folds in the skin on the female’s abdomen and from which thenyoung lap it. The young have three pairs of teeth but these fall away as theynmature and are replaced with cartilaginous pads in the mouths of the adults.nPlatypuses are extremely difficult to keep in captivity and there are currentlynnone kept in zoos outside of Australia.
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| An early account of the discovery of the Platypus – Thomas Smith – The Naturalist’s Cabinet – 1806 |
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nAs with the echidna, the platypus isnnot considered to be at risk at the present time and is listed as of ‘leastnconcern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN).
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nDydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus.
nDydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus.
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