What are platypus classified as
The platypus is one of the two animals in the order Monotremata. It is the only member of the mammal family Ornithorhynchidae. Source: http://www.chacha.com/question/what-are-platypus-classified-as
More Answers to "What are platypus classified as"
- How is the duck billed platypus classified?
- http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_is_the_duck_billed_platypus_classified
- no one knows where exactly the duck billed platypus came from. we figure it is some leftover species from prehistoric times.
- Why is the platypus is classified as a mammal more than a bird??
- http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080920023714AADvNVB
- It's much more similar with other mammals than with birds. For example, it feeds its young with milk that comes from its mammary glands, although it doesn't have nipples as such. No bird does. It has three small bones in the ear for process...
- Why is a platypus hard to classify?
- http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_a_platypus_hard_to_classify
- Because it has a bill similar to that of a duck, but it has fur and gives milk to its young like a mammal, and it has clawed feet and the male has spurs on its back legs that can inject poison into enemies, and the female lays eggs.
Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers
- Why is a platypus classified as a mammal when it lays eggs?
- Q: What was the determining factor?
- A: It lays leathery eggs, but is covered in fur, and feed its young through glandular openings (rudimentary mammary glands) that secrete a milk like substance.I should be more specific - in that there are three classifications of modern-day mammals:Monotremes (Platypus and Spiny Echidna) being the most basal, then Marsupials (the mid way point) and placental mammals - being the most evolutionarily advanced.So even though they're considered "mammals" in a sense - it's important to realize that these are basal mammals in terms of evolutionary scale.It is an excellent representation of how mammals evolved out of reptiles (Therapsids).
- Why is the platypus is classified as a mammal more than a bird?
- Q:
- A: It's much more similar with other mammals than with birds. For example, it feeds its young with milk that comes from its mammary glands, although it doesn't have nipples as such. No bird does. It has three small bones in the ear for processing sounds, the incus, malleus and stapes, and so do you. No bird has. Its lower jaw is composed of a single bone called the dentary, as yours is. All birds have multi-boned lower jaws. Its jaw is attached to the skull by a joint called the dentary-squamosal. No bird has ever had that joint. Juvenile platys have differentiated teeth, meaning teeth of distinct types, which they lose as they grow up. No living birds have any teeth at all. Some ancient birds were toothed, as it happens, but they didn't have differentiated ones.I could go on, but I expect you get the general idea. A platy is a mammal retaining some traits archaic for other mammals, such as yourself, but traits which your distant mammalian ancestors presumably also had.The beak is actually very un-duck like. In contrast to birds, it's supported along most of its length by elongated jaw bones, the material its made of differs, and it happens to be packed with thousands of mechanical- and electro-receptors for detecting movements of its prey at short range in the water. Indeed, it's very un-bird like. Webbed feet are also typically worn by other semiaquatic mammals.Oh yeah, the eggs also differ. Bird eggs are all delivered with hard shells rich in calcium. Platy eggs are parchment shelled things, effectively meaning soft-shelled.
- The Platypus lays eggs. Why is it classified as a mammal?
- Q:
- A: An animal does not have to give birth to live young in order to be a mammal. For example, various snakes and lizards give birth to live young, and they are reptiles. The main defining characteristic of mammals is mammary glands - this is where the name mammal comes from. Only mammals feed their young on milk. If an animal has mammary glands (like the platypus), it is a mammal, and if it doesn't, it isn't.
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