Platypus

The peculiar platypus has perplexed people throughout history. When the first specimens were sent to Europe from Australia in the late 1700s, scientists thought it was a hoax. With a vast array of mammalian, avian, and reptilian features, they were difficult to classify and have stumped evolutionary scientists for years. However, Christians see platypuses as evidence for a common designer—God!

Despite laying soft, leathery eggs like reptiles, platypuses have hair and nurse their young with milk, so they are mammals. Since baby platypuses have bird-like bills and cannot nurse, mothers ooze their milk into puddles for the babies to lap up. Those bills are covered in specialized receptors that detect electrical signals, like those created by the movement of the aquatic invertebrates (animals without bones) they eat.

Native to the freshwater habitats of Eastern Australia and a few surrounding islands, platypuses spend their days sleeping in burrows and their nights foraging underwater. They swim with their eyes, ears, and nostrils closed, relying entirely on the sensors in their bills to find prey. Webbing on their feet helps them swim, but it retracts on land to reveal claws useful for digging burrows. Food is stored in cheek pouches until they come to the surface to breathe. Since adults don’t have teeth, they mash their food with plates in their bills. Platypuses also lack stomachs—their gullets connect directly to their small intestines.

With up to 900 hairs per square millimeter, platypus fur is waterproof. Their double-layered coats trap air to keep them warm while diving. Platypus fur is also bioluminescent—it glows blue-green under ultraviolet light! Scientists are unsure why platypuses glow. Perhaps it is used to communicate at night or to hide from predators.

Male platypuses are one of the very few venomous mammals. The spurs on their hind feet inject venom that is not deadly to humans but is very painful. Although the world was perfect when God created it 6,000 years ago (Genesis 1:29-31), mankind’s sin caused the world to be cursed (Genesis 3), which is why platypuses use harmful venom today.

Currently, the only place outside of Australia that houses platypuses is the San Diego Wildlife Park due to their difficulty to maintain under human care and Australia’s strict regulations about exporting their wildlife.