The platypus’ eating habits and behaviors are very unique
and cool! Platypus eat freshwater shrimp, larvae, worms, water snails, aquatic
insects, and sometimes the eggs of frogs and fish, and they dedicate around 12
hours each day simply to finding food! The way the platypus locates its food is
by using its bill. The platypus bill is really fascinating! It has hundreds of receptors,
which are able to detect touch and electric currents created by the movements
of their prey, which is known as electroreception. This is really important for the platypus because when they
are underwater hunting for their prey they actually have their eyes, ears, and
nostrils closed so they are completely dependent on the capabilities of their
bill. The way the platypus uses
its prey detecting bill capabilities is by moving its head back and forth to
locate any prey in the surrounding area. Once the platypus has located and
captured its prey, it then stores the food in the pouches of its cheeks until
the pouches become entirely full. At this point, the platypus swims back up to
the surface (using its webbed feet to propel itself) where it separates the
food from any sand that it picked up in its mouth while capturing its prey. Another
cool thing about the platypus is that adults actually do not have teeth! Platypus
young have three molars but lose them when they enter adulthood. In order to
eat, they actually grind their food between the pads they have in place of
teeth. These pads in the platypus’ mouth are not actually in the bill, however,
the platypus mouth is located underneath its bill. Lastly, the platypus uses
its tail for fat storage. In fact, the platypus stores up to 50% of its body
fat in its cute tail!
This is really cool! So does the platypus use its tail for other things because it has so much fat in it? Does it actually use its tail to swim or is it just a body part there to store fat? It would also be really cool if the platypus was able to defend itself using it's fat filled tail. That would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteWow! the platypus is a very interesting animal. After reading the evolutionary post and this one it seems like they have had quite an unique evolutionary process and have adapted behaviors and characteristics from a diverse range of reptiles, birds and mammals. I wonder what the use of the molars are in the young..
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