Q 01/05

The platypus is one of only five living species in which group of egg-laying mammals?

A) Marsupials

B) Placentals

C) Monotremes

D) Xenarthrans

Answer · why

C) Monotremes

The other four are all echidnas; every other mammal on Earth gives birth to live young.

Q 02/05

Which other animals are the only egg-laying mammals alive alongside the platypus?

A) Wombats

B) Numbats

C) Bandicoots

D) Echidnas

Answer · why

D) Echidnas

There are four echidna species; molecular clocks suggest the platypus split from them roughly 19-48 million years ago.

Q 03/05

What did the first scientists to examine a preserved platypus in 1799 conclude?

A) That it was a species of duck

B) That it was a juvenile beaver

C) That it was a fake sewn together from several animals

D) That it was a giant water rat

Answer · why

C) That it was a fake sewn together from several animals

George Shaw literally took scissors to the pelt looking for stitches; Robert Knox suspected Chinese sailors had made it.

Q 04/05

Which sense do platypuses use to find prey with their eyes, ears and nostrils shut underwater?

A) Echolocation

B) Electrolocation

C) Infrared vision

D) Magnetoreception

Answer · why

B) Electrolocation

About 40,000 electroreceptors in the bill pick up the tiny currents made by a shrimp's muscles; they will even attack an 'artificial shrimp' carrying ...

Q 05/05

Where is the male platypus's venomous spur located?

A) On the tip of the bill

B) On the tail

C) On each front foot

D) On each hind foot

Answer · why

D) On each hind foot

Both sexes are born with the ankle spurs, but only males keep them into adulthood and use them fighting rivals in the breeding season.