{"id":163,"date":"2018-03-30T10:33:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T10:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/clements\/?p=163"},"modified":"2018-03-30T10:33:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T10:33:54","slug":"bird-of-the-week-the-duck-billed-platypus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/clements\/2018\/03\/30\/bird-of-the-week-the-duck-billed-platypus\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird of the week – the duck-billed platypus"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s bird of the week is just ducky. I mean it has a beak like a duck and lays eggs like a duck, and even swims somewhat like a duck what more do you want?<\/p>\n

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Indiana poet James Whitcomb riley (1849-1916) is likely responsible for the well-known truism: \u201cWhen I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.\u201d From this statement, the main issue for platypus identification is that it definitely doesn\u2019t quack like a duck. Rather when it rarely speaks, the platypus makes an odd sort of growl that could not be mistaken for a quack.<\/p>\n

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Interestingly though, when the platypus was first unveiled to science, scientists thought it was an elaborate hoax, so improbable the combination of features appeared. When Dr. George Shaw received the first specimen to reach Britain in 1799, he started cutting it up, expecting to find stitches connecting the duck bill to the head. Shaw went on to name the species Platypus anatinus<\/em> meaning \u201cflat-footed\u201d and \u201cduck-like.\u201d<\/p>\n

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However, it turned out the Genus Platypus<\/em> was taken (a group of beetles had snagged it), so the name had to be changed to Ornithorhynchus anatinus<\/em> which means \u201cbird-like snout\u201d and \u201cduck-like.\u201d Pretty ducky beast apparently! I got to see a very ducky performance by a platypus named Millsom at the Healseville Sanctuary near Melbourne last week \u2013 see excerpts below.<\/p>\n