There is a strange animal living in Australia, it looks very strange, its thick fur is brown like an otter, its body is fat but flattened, its face looks like a rodent, its mouth and feet look like a duck...
At the end of the 18th century, when European scientists first saw the specimen of this animal, they were deeply "thundered" by its strange appearance, and even suspected that it was a "synthetic" strange guy, who once thought it was a "hoax".
Because it was so weird, for a long time, biologists were so overwhelmed that they didn't know which animal to classify it as, and the name took 100 years to figure it out.
This animal is the most primitive and inferior mammal in the world, the platypus, and is considered one of the most extreme animals in evolutionary history.
Francis Gornlins, director of the National Human Genome Institute, said: "At first glance, platypus look like a 'freak' created by an evolutionary process 'accident'"
Only found in Australia, the platypus is an accidental branch of the transition between reptiles and mammals, dating back to the Jurassic period 170 million years ago. So, how weird are platypus?
How weird are platypus?
Platypus is the only extant species in the family Platypus, with a body length of about half a meter, eggs and excretion of feces and urine are used in the same organ, belonging to a category of single-for-pompans, which is a characteristic structure of reptiles and birds.
It is a mammalian vertebrate, but it is oviparous; It has the beak of a bird, and like a bird, it has the ability to build its own nest, but it can freely march in the water like a fish; Its life habits are very similar to reptiles, but it has long hooks and claws on its feet and long webbing, and it walks on webbing joints...
Platypus has four types of animal characteristics of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles, which combines "duck mouth, otter feet, and beaver tail" and has the genetic characteristics of three animals.
However, with its "Thunderman" characteristics, it has become a symbol of Australia, and the figure of platypus is found on stamps and coins. The peculiar platypus simply subverts people's impression of mammals.
Haruki Murakami once described the platypus as follows: "The degradation of genetic factors, the deformed creature that has gone astray and cannot retreat..."
- Oddity One: An egg-laying mammal
Imagine how weird it is for a family cat to lay eggs? Platypus is a mammal, but the mode of reproduction is different from that of mammals in general, not viviparous, but oviparous.
Platypus lays 1-3 eggs at a time, the eggshell is soft and translucent, for the size of the platypus, the eggs laid are pitifully small, only 1 cm in diameter, what is the concept? Not as big as a quail egg.
After laying eggs, the mother will incubate the eggs like a bird, placing the eggs between the tail and the abdomen, curling up day and night to hatch at body temperature.
Surprisingly, female platypuses do not have nipples and breasts, but can feed their pups like mammals.
They have a very unique way of producing milk, with the mammary glands distributed on the skin on both sides of the abdomen secreting milk like sweat. While feeding, the mother platypus lies on her back, allowing the cub to lie on its belly and use her tongue to lick and suck on the milk-soaked tufts of hair.
This way of feeding is unique among mammals. What's even more amazing is that adult platypuses have no teeth, but newly hatched platypuses have more than 10 sharp small teeth in their mouths, which are used to open the egg shell, and soon they will fall off.
The mouth of adult platypus is more like a veritable duck's mouth, which will give birth to a kind of pad as a feeding tool, and their food is mainly insects on land and invertebrates such as shell clams and small insects in the water.
- Oddity TWO: Has 10 sex chromosomes
Australian scientists have found that the sex of platypus is determined by 5 pairs of chromosomes, theoretically having 25 sexes.
You know, the sex of most mammals, including humans, is only determined by the X and Y chromosomes, XX represents females, and XY represents males.
There are 5 pairs of sex chromosomes that are independent of each other in the cells of the platypus, which are aggregated together when the cells divide, 5 X and Y chromosomes each for male platypus and 10 X chromosomes for female platypus.
The sex of birds is determined by a pair of chromosomes, with ZZ being male and ZW being female.
Scientists have found that one end of the platypus sex chromosome chain XXXXX has similar genes to the Z chromosome of birds, and the other end has similar genes to the X chromosome of mammals.
Is the platypus between birds and beasts a hybrid breed of birds and beasts?
Experts speculate that it may have been hundreds of millions of years ago that mammals and birds evolved into different branches, and the two animals developed their own decisive chromosomal patterns.
- Oddity Three: Contains a deadly poison
In nature, usually only snakes, spiders, scorpions and other arthropods are poisonous, mammals poisonous juice is very rare, and platypus this mammal is so weird, don't look cute and cute, in fact, pregnant with highly poisonous.
Platypus have about 15 mm long stingers on their hind feet, connected to a venom-filled gland, and are an excellent weapon for them to defend themselves and attack.
However, stingers are only found in male platypus. Scientists have observed that toxin-secreting glands only grow larger during the spring and winter breeding seasons, perhaps evolving between male platypus for mates.
So, how powerful is the platypus's poisonous juice? Current studies have shown that the platypus's poisonous juice does not pose a fatal threat to the human body, but if a person is accidentally stabbed by its stinger, it will cause severe pain and make people unable to move.
What's even more frightening is that it also emits an extremely unpleasant smell that takes many months to dissipate.
Although there is no fatal threat to humans, for ordinary animals, once they are poisoned, they are less fierce, and they may even die. Dogs, for example, were punctured by platypus needles and soon died miserably.
Platypus, which has not been extinct or evolved much over hundreds of millions of years, is a strange evolutionary path and is of great significance to human understanding of the evolutionary process of mammals.
From the age of dinosaurs more than 100 million years ago, the platypus has progressed all the way to the present, evolving slowly but constantly adapting to various changes.
But now, due to the continuous destruction of its habitat, the platypus is facing a great crisis for its survival, and its precious fur has become the object of poachers...
Hopefully, the strange and interesting platypus will not suffer the doom of extinction!