Ever seen an animal with a bill like a duck, fur like a seal,
webbed feet, that lays eggs like a snake, but is a mammal?

Australia has an animal such as this, its the nocturnal PLATYPUS.  When evening falls, it leaves its burrow to hunt for worms, frogs and crayfish,
It stores them in it's cheeks to eat on the surface of the water.  Its front feet are webbed and used to paddle, while the back feet are partially webbed and used for steering.  Its snout or beak, is its most important sense organ, for beneath the water, its eyes, ears and nostrils are closed.   A special sensory device in its bill, detects the  electromagnetic field of its prey, and is its sole guide to finding food.
The platypus is covered in thick brown fur, which helps it  swim quickly through the water and also provides insulation.  The adult male has a poisonous spur on  each of his hind feet which he uses to battle other males.

Unlike other mammals the platypus lays eggs.  The female digs her own nesting burrow which she lines with gum leaves and grass, and then seals the opening with dirt.  15 days after mating she lays 1 to 3 sparrow sized leathery eggs.  She incubates them for 12 days  when the young are hatched without fur, blind and tiny.  For the first 6 weeks they stay at the smooth teatless, abdominal area from which the mother ejects milk.  At 4 months the young begin feeding themselves.  Platypus have an unexplained talent for finding water.

A.B. (" Banjo") Paterson wrote the following poem after seeing this strange creature.

Far from the trouble and toll of town,
Where the reed beds sweep and shiver,
Look for a fragment of velvet brown -----
Old man platypus drifting down,
Drifting along the river.
And he plays and dives in the river bends
In a style that is most elusive:
With few relations and fewer friends,
For old man platypus descends
From a family most exclusive!
"He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed."

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