The Platypus is one of five species of egg-laying mammal, known as a Monotreme. His strange appearance - duck bill, webbed feet, beaver-like tail - baffled earlier discoverers and for a time he was considered a hoax. Even when seeing one in the flesh and fur, so to speak, it is hard to believe that this little creature is actually a real animal. Males are also venomous, having a spur on his hind feet that can deliver a cripplingly painful poison. Semi-aquatic, he is most active at dawn and dusk, or on overcast days. He hunts using electrolocation to detect his prey, invertebrates such as crabs, worm and yabbies, sensing the electric fields generated by their muscular motion. During breeding season, the female lays 1-3 rubbery shelled eggs in a burrow, curling her body around them. The infants are vulnerable and feed on her milk, delivered not through a teat, but released through pores to pool on her abdomen and be lapped up.
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