· The duckbill platypus is a semi aquatic egg-laying mammal native to Tasmania and southern and eastern Australia	Click here for Platypus photos!
	· The animal belong to the order Monotremata, the most primitive group of living mammals. The only other member of this group is the echidna, or spiny anteater
	· The animal has a bill that resembles a duck bill but is actually an elongated snout covered with soft moist leathery skin and sensitive nerve endings
	· The bill is used for detecting prey and stirring up mud at the bottom of rivers in order to uncover the insects, worms, and shellfish which it eats. Duckbills have no teeth

· Prey is taken up by the beak and transferred to the cheek pouches

· They may eat half its own body-weight of food in the course of a single night!

· The body of the platypus is 30 to 45cm long, the flattened tail measures 10 to 15cm in length

· Their five-toed feet are webbed

· The heel of the male bears a hollow spur connected to a poison-secreting gland; this can be injected into other animals by erection of the spur. In man the venom only causes agonizing pain, but it can be deadly to a smaller animal
· The body and tail are covered with thick soft wooly layer of fur from which long flat hairs protrude
· The platypus eyes are small, and it has no external ears, but it has keen senses of sight and hearing
· They are shy animals and are seldom seen, even in areas where they live
· Platypus's have been recorded making noises ranging from "a growl of a puppy to the noise of a broody hen."
· They are active only during the early morning and late evening

· They live in long winding burrows that are usually dug by the females in the banks of rivers or streams. At the end of the burrow, which may be from about 9 to 18m in length, the female constructs a bed of weeds, leaves and grass, which it uses as a nest for the eggs and young

· The female lays usually two but sometimes as many as four white eggs in a clutch

· They hatch in about eight to ten days and nurse for about 5 months

· The young animals have no fur when they hatch

· The female uses it's tail to grab the young to its abdomen enabling them to nurse

· The average life span in about 10 - 17 years