The Platypus: Nature's Most Bewildering Mashup
The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is one of only five species of monotremes—mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. This Australian oddity possesses electroreceptors in its rubbery bill that allow it to hunt with its eyes, ears, and nostrils closed, detecting the electrical fields generated by muscle contractions in its prey. Male platypuses are venomous, wielding sharp spurs on their hind legs that deliver a cocktail of toxins powerful enough to cause excruciating pain in humans and kill small animals. When European scientists first examined a platypus specimen in 1798, they were so convinced it was a hoax that they searched for stitches where someone might have sewn a duck's bill onto a beaver's body.