272 - The Peculiar Platypus Part 2

We continue our discussion of the platypus with Dr. Gilad Bino. In part 2 we explore the features that make them unique. Their extremely sensitive bills, laying eggs, venomous spurs - they're weird... yet they don't represent "new" so much as a surviving example of extremely old. Long ago mammals weren't the placental creatures that we evolved from. The echidna and platypus are the last two known survivors of our very, very ancient mammal ancestry - the monotremes.

Discussed in this episode:

Venery Terms for Animals

Audubon article skeptical of these terms

Platypus Spurs

Phineas and Ferb

Mind Flayers 

Dr. Bino's Research 

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