Duck-billed platypuses

By Adele

Duck-billed platypuses （鴨嘴獸）cannot be real,can they?The duck-billed platypuses of eastern Australia are small,shy animals．This small mammal is such a strange creature that when the first one arrived at the British Museum in London 1798，scientists thought that someone was playing a practical joke on them．

One cannot blame the scientists for having such a thought because it is definitely one of nature's strangest creatures alive．It looks like an animal which has been put together using various parts of different animals．It is a four-legged animal with a tail like a beaver's （海貍）,webbed feet and a duck's bill．It has no outer ears．What is stranger still is the fact that it breast feeds its young like all other mammals，yet lays eggs like fish,reptiles and birds．It grows to about 47 centimeters in length and weighs around 1.5 kilo gramme．

Male platypuses are poisonous．They have a pointy part on their hind ankles that connects to a poison bag in each leg．They mainly use these weapons in mating battles with other males．However,if threatened,they will use them to attack their enemies．

The platypus is native to Australia．There are thousands of them living in the wet lands,lakes and rivers of eastern Australia and parts of Tasmania．It feeds on underwater animals such as shrimps,worms,frogs,snails and small fish．When a platypus is underwater,it is almost deaf and blind．However,scientists have discovered that the animal can still find its food through a sense of smell and a sensitive sense of touch in the bill．The bill，in fact,has sensors which can detect the smallest electrical charge sent out by the movement of prey（獵物）．This explains why the strange creature has the strangest habit of eating ordinary flashlight batteries．