Page 141 - An Anthology of Intriguing Animals (DK)
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Platypus
T he body of an otter, the beak and webbed feet
of a duck, and the tail of a beaver—it could
only be the platypus. When people outside of Australia
saw it for the first time, many believed this peculiar
mammal wasn’t real.
The platypus uses its unusual rubbery beak like
a scanner. It swishes the beak back and forth
underwater, picking up tiny electrical signals
coming from creatures hidden in the riverbed.
Worms in mud? No problem. Shrimp under a
rock? Easy. Instead of teeth, the adult platypus has
hard pads in its beak to help grind up food. Even stranger,
while mammals usually give birth to their babies, a female
platypus lays eggs!
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