The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a 30–40 cm long, semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, and one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young (the other four are echidnas). It is the sole extant representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of fossilised relatives have been found, some of them also in the Ornithorhynchus genus.

This egg-laying, duck-billed mammal whose males have a venomous spur on the hind foot, baffled naturalists when it was first discovered. The uniqueness of the Platypus makes it a recognizable symbol of Australia (along with the kangaroo and koala); it is featured on the reverse of the Australian 20-cent coin.

Taxonomy

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When the Platypus was first discovered by Europeans in the late 1700s, a pelt was sent back to the United Kingdom and presented for examination by Joseph Banks to the scientific community. The British scientists were at first convinced that the seemingly odd collection of physical attributes must be a hoax, produced by some Asian taxidermist. It was thought that somebody had sewn a duck's beak onto the body of a beaver-like animal. Scientists were also divided over whether the female Platypus laid eggs, until this was later confirmed in Australia. The scientific name Ornithorhynchus is derived from ορνιθόρυγχος ("ornithorhynkhos"), which literally means "bird snout" in Greek, and anatinus means "duck-like". The common name is Latin platypus, derived from the Greek words πλατύς ("platys", flat) and πους ("pous", foot), meaning "flat foot" and was originally given to it as a Linnaean genus name, but it was discovered to already belong to the wood-boring ambrosia beetle (genus Platypus).

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