#PUGGLE PLATYPUS SERIES#

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The information from these receptors allows the platypus to navigate under the water and also to locate and capture their prey. Electroreceptors can detect both AC and DC current, while the mechano-receptors detect vibrations, water pressure and movement. They locate their prey by using specialised receptors on their bills. The platypus is a carnivorous generalist feeder in the water, eating a variety of aquatic invertebrates such as caddisfly and dragonfly nymphs, shrimp, mussels, worms, midge larvae and crayfish. No swimming lessons from parents are required – foraging and underwater acrobatics all comes naturally. This is when they are weaned from milk and leave the nesting burrow for the first time. Credit: IainStych/Getty ImagesĪt four months of age, the young are almost fully grown, about 80% the size of their parent. Platypus don’t have teats, so milk drips out of patches on mum’s belly, which the puggles lap up. They live underground for the next four months, suckling from their mum – but the milk is secreted a bit differently to other mammals. When the puggles (not kidding) hatch, they are the size of a jellybean and fur-less. She will normally lay one or two soft-shelled eggs, similar to reptile eggs, and incubate them for about 10 days. A mammal that lays eggs? This is the preposterous platypus, remember – a monotreme, sharing this astonishing ability only with the various echidna species. If things are going swimmingly, the female will then twist around and clasp her bill on the male’s tail, so they complete a romantic loop tracing circles underwater.Īfter mating, the female constructs a nest by carrying leaves and grasses in her tail, which she takes underground into a special nesting burrow where she will lay her eggs – and here’s where our Mammal of the Year title really should be a no-contest.

#PUGGLE PLATYPUS SERIES#

First the male will grab the tail of the female in his bill, while she swims around in a series of loops and twists through the water.

Males and females conduct a beguiling courtship ritual prior to mating as they assess each other’s suitability.

Puggle platypus