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Platypus - unlike we have ever seen before, until now...

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a member of the order of monotremata, the egg laying mammals. It is very strange: a venomous, duck-billed, egg-laying mammal (?!). It is unlike we have ever seen, until now! Recent fossil discovery of an extinct species named Akidolestes, a half shrew - half platypus species, challenges conventional wisdom about how placental mammals split from earlier egg-layers. The platypus has a low body temparature compared to other mammals, it is only 32°C compared to 38°C. The platypus is one of the closest relatives of ancestral mammals, although it is not itself a link in the chain of mammalian evolution. Its branch is quite separate from any other one known to man. The recent fossil discovery of Akidolestes gives hope to get more insight in the separation of this branch.

Image:
Author striatic http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/17367/
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0

Resources:
National geographic news
Wikipedia on the platypus

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one comment:

Neat stuff.

Evolution is never very “clear cut,” is it? Sometimes I wonder why scientists are surprised about anything any more.

I love this site! I’ve been blogging about he evolutionary significance of certain animals in a series; I just finished up a batch about the red panda. If you guys are still looking for people, I would love to repost here. Let me know.

Thanks for the link!

jbruno
jbruno (Email) (URL) - 27 08 06 - 13:44

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