No stomach?!
These folks do a great job with nature shorts https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Zxf2MgYCOm0
Like the universe got lazy and hit the “Randomize for me” button instead LMAO
Will Wright took one look at this thing in an encyclopedia in 2001 and immediately started planning Spore.
Platypussies*
And when it hunts underwater it is deaf and blind, sensing electromagnetic signals from its prey with the duck-bill.
Venomous? But…if not friend, why friend shaoed???
Just the males, iirc.
They have venomous spurs in their hind feet used in chasing off other males.
And their venom HURTS. They’re not particularly deadly or anything but their venom will land you in the hospital or at least laid up in bed for a while. My stepmother grew up out in the bush in NSW the ‘70s and received one of the few recorded platypus envenomations and she described it as the most painful experience of her life. She said childbirth was a breeze compared to the platypus sting!
I guess they subscribe to the “if they’re still alive, they’ll tell others how much it sucked, and we’ll be bothered less.” theory.
No stomach?! Does food go straight to the colon?
Yes, platypuses lost their stomach during evolution, so they basically grind food using gravel and their beak before sending it to the intestine, which has taken on some of the functions performed by stomachs in other animals. Source
I went down this rathole.
They first grind up the bugs they eat in their mouths, then they have a chamber with bacteria which further reduce their food, then their intestines finish the job.
ETA, since you all are such curious cats:
https://wildlifefaq.com/platypus-stomach/
and
Oh, is it like a gizard type of thing sort of?
so whats the chamber between the mouth and intestine called?
A pseudo-stomach? IDK…
I think since it’s using bacteria and not acid, it’s not a “stomach”, just performs the same type of function.
https://platypus.asn.au/platypus-myths/
The fact is that the platypus’s digestive tract does include a small expanded pouch-like section where one would normally expect a stomach to be located. The platypus’s stomach doesn’t secrete digestive acids or enzymes (Harrop and Hume 1980; Ordoñez et al. 2008), but does produce a mucus-rich fluid to assist nutrient absorption in the intestines (Krause 1971). Following on from the discussion of grinding pads above, it would seem that a platypus masticates food so thoroughly in its mouth that little additional processing is required before food reaches the intestines. Also, because a platypus consumes numerous small prey items over a period of many hours, its stomach doesn’t need to have a large holding capacity to accommodate infrequent large meals.
Sooo, “gullet”?
Thanks for doing so, did you figure out why they glow?
Lol, I think that’s only in the cartoon, eh.
Shit your being downvoted, now I have to go look myself… if I don’t return I likely have been abducted by egg laying mammals
And Dan Povenmire was the first to discover the florescence. People Perry the platypus was more scientifically accurate than you thought.
As a platypus lays eggs and produces milk, it’s the only animal that can make its own custard.
It can make it’s own breakfast
A full English breakfast ain’t shit once you’ve had the full platypus breakfast!
yes but what about second breakfast
make its* own breakfast
Dark.
Also. Where can I try some?
DM me your card details and I’ll send you a couple of pints from my platypus farm.
Wait…. People farm the weirdos?
It’s heavily regulated now as someone sold one of the male drumsticks that still had the venomous spur attached at a Saturday farmers market.
Fortunately most of the venom was deactivated by frying it but they still had to be hospitalised for a week.
I wonder how they’d be for pets.
I realize I shouldn’t.
but. I kinda want one. They’re cute.
(again, I realize I shouldn’t!)
The human urge to domesticate anything that is slightly cute
Hell, we’ll even try to domesticate things that are anything but cute, like crocodiles, fish and spiders
Er…no… Not me…
And echidnas.
I’m not sure if I’m and echidna custard or platypus custard kind of person.
the new coke v pepsi
Echidnas have a four-headed penis. You’re welcome.
Just like normal humans, then?
Just be sure you don’t mention echidna custard in front of Ken Penders.
No stomach? Hadn’t heard that one before
I wonder how they process food.
Stomachs aren’t necessary… You can jump straight to the large intestine. Even humans can survive like that
Obviously, they’re useful. It’s another stage of digestion, which means more energy and nutrients are extracted from your food. It widens your viable food sources, just like chewing does
Bizarre beasts episode on this:
If something is too weird, some of the oddities tend to get overlooked.
And that’s the reason you can only find platypuses in Australia.
You don’t see them though. The national park boards say “look for ripples in the water!”.
If you see ripples, you’re about to die.
If you see ripples, you’re about to die.
Yeah, but from which threat? Snake? Spider? Swimming kangaroo?
I would rather Australian risks than those of bears and big cats
Aussie snakes try to keep away from people, they aren’t aggressive.
Our spiders are so like those elsewhere (compare Redback to black widow)
You’re unlikely to see a kangaroo in water. If you do, keep away from it just like you keep away from wild animals anyway
I meant the platypusses, but legit the number of times I’ve just been walking along a path and a snake has started thrashing around in the long grass next to me. All the snakes here are dead-in-eight-minutes type snakes.
Well, if you live in Australia, you’re about to die… So many deadly things always just round the corner, or under the seat!
The UV light thing wasn’t discovered (or at least published) until 2020.
Phineas and Ferb ended in 2015.And guess what color they fluoresce.
Valid reason to bring it back.
They did bring it back lol
I’m curious now how a mammal develops in an external egg. The process seems so weird.
I think they might’ve diverged from therians (placentals+ marsupials) before their ancestors became viviparous.
Bin parts build
