A doggerel series
about odd or little-known animals.
Platypus. The
platypus is actually a mammal. A very strange one that is—and not just for the
way it looks. On close inspection, it looks like a crazy hybrid of a duck, a
beaver, and an otter. For instance, other than the closely-related echidna, it’s
the only surviving mammal that lays eggs. Platypuses are also one of the very
few known mammals with the sense of electroreception, (or electrolocation),
meaning that they can sense the electrical fields produced by other organisms,
much as sharks can. The only other known mammals with electroreception are the
echidna and the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis). (All animal info
from http://www.strangeanimals.info/2010/12/platypus.html#ixzz4XNN7XjdP)
The platypus cried, “Curse my luck!
I look like some sad furry duck—
An otter with a silly bill
Who lays some eggs—oh, what a skill!”
But, platypus, don’t feel deprived:
Unlike some others, you’ve survived.
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