Facts about Platypuses
- 08
Platypuses can hold their breath underwater for up to two minutes while hunting for food on the bottom of freshwater streams and rivers.
- 07
The platypus brain lacks a cerebral cortex, instead routing sensory information directly through the brainstem, a neurological structure shared with some reptiles but absent in other mammals.
- 06
Platypuses possess ten pairs of chromosomes compared to humans' twenty-three pairs, making their genome one of the most unusual among mammals.
- 05
During the breeding season, male platypuses experience a tenfold increase in testosterone levels that activates venom production in their ankle spurs.
- 04
Platypus milk lacks nipples, so mothers secrete it through pores in their skin and their young lap it from grooves on the abdomen for three to four months.
- 03
Female platypuses lay between one and three leathery eggs and incubate them for approximately ten days before the young hatch.
- 02
A platypus's bill contains around 40,000 electroreceptors that detect electrical fields generated by muscle contractions in prey organisms.
- 01
Ten venomous spurs on male platypuses deliver enough toxin during breeding season to cause severe pain in humans for weeks.