Biology Cf
Platypus as New information and technologies became available
Time line
• In late 1700’s British scientist were convinced that this oddly assorted animal was a hoax by Asian taxidermist
• 1864 that its egg laying ability was observed and confirmed towards the end of the 19th century
• In the 20th century the researched rather then observed, first platypus was bred in captivity in 1944.
• In 1990s discovery that platypuses use elcecotrosensory receptors in their bills to locate good underwater while eyes are close. This was new and a distinct sensory system that differed from other mammals
• In 1971, two fossil platypus teeth were discovered in the Tirari Desert in South Australia. They are about 25 million years old, and have been named Obdurodon insignis. The modern platypus has only vestigial teeth, which are replaced by horny pads when it is still a juvenile. The fossil teeth are similar enough to these vestigial teeth to allow identification, and they show that ancient platypuses had teeth as adults. Since then, central Australia has produced a few more isolated teeth, a fragment of a lower jaw, and a part of a pelvis.
• Up until 1973 there was uncertainy about the platypus being able to regulate its body temp like other mammals. Recent research shows that it can regulate body temp but this mechanism is underdeveloped.
• 1984, an opalised jaw fragment with three teeth in place, belonging to either a platypus or a platypus-like monotreme, was discovered at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales. This fossil was 110 million years old, and is named Steropodon galmani (Archer, Flannery, Ritchie, & Molnar, 1985). It was the first known mammal from the Mesozoic (the Age of Dinosaurs) in Australia. It may have been the largest mammal from the Cretaceous period anywhere in the world, although it is less than twice the size of the modern platypus.
• A few...
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