What hath God wrought!
Mr. Nature here, with possibly the oddest creature on the planet–Australia’s famous duck-billed platypus. In fact, the animal is so odd that when the first specimens arrived in England, scientists thought it was a hoax.
The platypus is a mammal, or so they say. But it has some weird un-mammalian features.
It lays eggs.
Its legs are positioned out to the side, as in reptiles, instead of directly underneath the body, as in most mammals.
The babies hatch out of the eggs with teeth, but lose them later on.
The male has poisonous heel spurs that can inflict intense pain on a human being. Very few mammals are equipped with venom: only the solenodon springs to mind. But lots of snakes, and some lizards, are poisonous.
But the platypus does have hair, and plenty of it, the mother nurses the babies on milk, and as far as the science of taxonomy is concerned, platypuses are mammals in good standing–not some weird little group of their own that displays both mammalian and reptilian features. That went out with the Triassic Period.
And we can admire the Creator’s creativity!
Speaking of platypuses, do you know what a baby platypus looks like?
https://www.theanimalclub.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/baby-platypus.jpg
I’m just kidding…
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/18/94/82/18948263e78e1f41f6c27978e2d2501c.jpg
You have perplexed Mr. Nature!
And look at this–year pictures have appeared in your comment! Please tell Ev how you did it.
A blogging friend once posted a picture on my blog, and I asked him how he did it. He said after searching for the picture you want, click on it until the link at the top of the page ends with “.jpg”. I had no idea what that meant at first, but I found out how to do it after several attempts.
I hope Ev is reading this.
I’ll tell her the same thing.
Where can I tell her? Can I just reply to one of her comments?
Yes, you can do that. Or maybe she’ll come upon it as she reads all the comments.
I just told her through one of her comments on my blog!
That should work.
Okay!
By the way, the pictures don’t appear on my side. Just the links.
That’s more than I know how to explain.
What a strange little creature. From what I understand, they are happiest in an aquatic situation and quite capable of performing superbly, somewhat like a duck, foraging on the bottom of a lake or stream.
They aren’t well-suited to life on land.
I know. I can’t remember the last time I saw one in the yard. 🙂
You could add a bird bath. That might work.
Ok, I’ll give you my Visa card and you can go over to the Farm Store and tell them you are buying a birdbath for a backyard in the Sonoran desert of Arizona in order to attract platypuses. Meanwhile, I’ll take a video of the proceedings. It should make the going’s on of Scurvyshire look tame by comparison. 🙂
I’ll bet Al Capone could’ve done it.
Probably so.
Never knew the platypus had the ability to inflict poison on enemies. Thanks for that, Mr. Nature.
If you ever chance to see one, don’t just grab it.
What an amazing creature