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The '''platypus''' is an aquatic [[mammal]], one of only five mammal species which lays eggs as opposed to a live birth.<ref>↑ The other four are types of echidnas which are also native to [[Australia]].</ref> Its natural range is in [[Australia]] and [[Tasmania]]. It has a bill, similar in shape to a [[duck]], which is very pliable, and also has webbed feet. Like all mammals it has fur and suckles its young.  The platypus can find its prey in water due to its ability to detect electric fields produced by muscular contractions. The male platypus has has a spur on its hindfoot which can deliver venom - a  feature which very few mammals possess.  

The '''platypus''' is an aquatic [[mammal]], one of only five mammal species which lays eggs as opposed to a live birth.<ref>↑ The other four are types of echidnas which are also native to [[Australia]].</ref> Its natural range is in [[Australia]] and [[Tasmania]]. It has a bill, similar in shape to a [[duck]], which is very pliable, and also has webbed feet. Like all mammals it has fur and suckles its young.  The platypus can find its prey in water due to its ability to detect electric fields produced by muscular contractions. The male platypus has has a spur on its hindfoot which can deliver venom - a  feature which very few mammals possess. It has no visible ears.

 

An excellent swimmer, the platypus spends much of its time foraging for [[food]] in water.  It swims with an alternating left-to-right paddling of its front feet.  Despite all four of its feet being webbed, its hindfeet remain held against its body, instead being used for steering (along with its tail) rather than propulsion.

The platypus (and its fellow [[monotreme]] the [[echidna]]) was believed to have evolved in isolation 225 million years ago when the land mass that would become [[Australia]] (Gondwana) broke away from the other continents. This idea of [[evolution]] in isolation followed the theory of [[Darwin]], whose affinity for evolution may also have been influenced by his early studies of the platypus during his time on The Beagle.

The platypus (and its fellow [[monotreme]] the [[echidna]]) was believed to have evolved in isolation 225 million years ago when the land mass that would become [[Australia]] (Gondwana) broke away from the other continents. This idea of [[evolution]] in isolation followed the theory of [[Darwin]], whose affinity for evolution may also have been influenced by his early studies of the platypus during his time on The Beagle.