Duck-Billed Platypus

Duck-Billed Platypus By: Cj heraty

Duck-Billed Platypus Intro

Scientific name: Ornithorhynchus Anaticus

Platypus originated from Australia and is the only egg-laying mammal, it's also semi aquatic meaning it can survive on land or in the water.

Kingdom: Animal

Phylum: Chordate

Class: Mammal

Order: Monotreme

Family: Ornithorhynchidae

Genus: Platypus

Species: Platypus

Habitat: Platypus live in lakes, streams, and rivers, they build their burrows in the banks of these fresh bodies of water.

Geologic time: 135-65 million years ago

Picture citation: http://animalstime.com/duck-billed-platypus-facts-top-10-amazing-facts-about-platypus/

Morphological and Molecular Evidence

Ducks were found before platypus, however ducks have the same bills, they are very closely related due to this reason and many more.

Kangaroos are also close relatives due to the fact that they have pouches, however, they aren't for the same function though...

Beavers are also very close relatives to platypus due to the fact that they have the same body structure, tails, and legs.

Homologous Structures: A shared body part between different species but with different functions.

Geese webbed-feet: Geese use their webbed-feet for paddling through the water while platypus use it for swimming under water rather than paddling on top of it.

Duck beak: Ducks use their beaks for swallowing and detecting food, where platypus use them for just locating their food, they have an actual mouth unlike ducks.

Beaver tail: A beaver uses it's tail to steer on top of water when making dams and for balance on land, platypus use them for steering themselves underwater and storing fat.

Platypus stay on top of water, but can also swim underwater like it's close relatives.

Vestigial Structures: A shared body part between species that are no longer needed for one or the other of the species.

Teeth: platypus don't use their teeth even though they have them from beavers.

Pouch: Platypus don't use the pouches that kangaroos gave to them.

Areola: Since platypus lay eggs the eggs they lay don't need their milk therefor their areola are not useful.

Transitional Fossils and how they support evolution

Transitional fossils are fossils that have the same structure of animals currently although they are different.

This is a beaver fossil, it is different from current platypus but very similar as well. (Found on Adobe Spark). This is also a stage of evolution to a platypus

Comparative embryology

In the picture above you can see that there are many alike features from the fossil to current day platypus, this is comparative embryology. More specifically, it's comparing a fossil to a living thing currently and seeing how alike they are.

THE END

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by jwright4701 - "ducks" • Pexels - "nature australia wildlife" • SteveRaubenstine - "beaver pond wildlife" • dnatheist - "Platypus" • cliff1066™ - "Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia rufa)"

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