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Two male platypuses have been caught on camera fighting for territory in Tasmania, Australia. Esme Atkinson, who filmed the video, said the animals were “ferocious” and showed no signs of stopping after 20 minutes. One expert told the BBC the male platypuses, which have venomous spurs,

Westerners need to get back to basics. It's cheaper. A beautiful woman having fun playing catch with a dog. (Click red link below title above.) Absorbing wisdom of great Americans like Harriett Tubman, who passed away 110 years ago today, March 10. (“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”) The West does NOT need a president like Biden who coul take U.S. national debt to $51 trillion by 2033:...

Platypus eating a worm. ============================================================== The first complete map of a platypus genome has just been released, and it's every bit as strange as you'd expect from a creature with 10 sex chromosomes, a pair of venomous spurs, a coat of fluorescent fur, and skin that 'sweats' milk. The duck-billed platypus is truly one of the oddest creatures on Earth. Along with the spiky echidna, these two Australian animals belong to a highly-specialised group of mammals, known as monotremes, which both lay eggs but also nurse their young with milk. The genes of both are relatively primitive and unchanged, revealing...

The platypus - Still more questions than answers for evolutionists by Paula Weston Imagine, if you will, the excited glances exchanged if paleontologists were to uncover a fossil that looked like a mammal, yet also had bird and reptilian features. The immediate reaction would probably be to declare that here was, clearly, a transitional creature that provided an evolutionary link between mammals and their non-mammalian ancestors. That might well be the conclusion drawn if a platypus fossil were found today, without living examples around to indicate otherwise.

A longer-lasting form of a hormone found in platypus venom could pave the way for new treatments for type 2 diabetes in humans, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide. Key points: A longer lasting version of GLP-1 has been found in the gut and venom of the platypus GLP-1 stimulates the release of insulin to lower blood glucose Researchers hope the venom could be used to treat type 2 diabetes in humans The team found both the platypus and echidna produce a long-lasting form of the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). GLP-1 is normally secreted in the gut of...

Paleontologists have long believed that the platypus is one of the few species that can trace a direct line back to the beginning of time. Now, a new study is changing that image. Researchers say a tooth discovered in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia, belongs to a different, extinct platypus species. "Discovery of this new species was a shock to us because prior to this, the fossil record suggested that the evolutionary tree of platypuses was relatively linear one," Dr. Michael Archer of the University of New South Wales, a co-author of the study, said in a...

CANBERRA, Australia, - An Australian man who heard scratching noises from beneath the hood of his sport-utility vehicle said he was shocked to discover a platypus hitching a ride. Cameron Blaseotto, 18, said female platypus apparently became wedged under the engine's air intake Wednesday when he drove through the flooded Murrumbidgee River in Canberra and he didn't discover the animal until he arrived at a friend's house about 10 miles away, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday. The platypus, dubbed Hilux, was turned over to the Australian Capital Territory Parks and Conservation Service, which returned her to the river. "I'd...

<p>She admitted her daughters were embarrassed by her dancing - but Michelle Obama is not letting that put her off.</p> <p>After showing off her dance moves at sports events across the country for her campaign against childhood obesity, the First Lady has added yet another routine to her repertoire - the 'Platypus Walk'</p>

The platypus is among nature's most unlikely animals. In fact, the first scientists to examine a specimen believed they were the victims of a hoax. The animal is best described as a hodgepodge of more familiar species: the duck (bill and webbed feet), beaver (tail), and otter (body and fur). Males are also venomous. They have sharp stingers on the heels of their rear feet and can use them to deliver a strong toxic blow to any foe. Platypuses hunt underwater, where they swim gracefully by paddling with their front webbed feet and steering with their hind feet and beaverlike...

Abandon any notion that the duck-billed platypus is a soft and cuddly creature -- maybe like Perry the Platypus in the Phineas and Ferb cartoon. This platypus, renowned as one of the few mammals that lay eggs, also is one of only a few venomous mammals. The males can deliver a mega-sting that causes immediate, excruciating pain, like hundreds of hornet stings, leaving victims incapacitated for weeks. Now scientists are reporting an advance toward deciphering the chemical composition of the venom, with the first identification of a dozen protein building blocks. Their study is in the Journal of the American...

If it has a bill and webbed feet like a duck, lays eggs like a bird or a reptile but also produces milk and has a coat of fur like a mammal, what could the genetics of the duck-billed platypus possibly be like? Well, just as peculiar: an amalgam of genes reflecting significant branching and transitions in evolution. An international scientific team, which announced the first decoding of the platypus genome on Wednesday, said the findings provided “many clues to the function and evolution of all mammalian genomes,” including that of humans, and should “inspire rapid advances in other investigations...

Platypus genome is as weird as its looks 18:00 07 May 2008 NewScientist.com news service Emma Young It's part-reptile, part-mammal, part-bird – and totally unique. Two centuries after European scientists deemed a dead specimen so outlandish it had to be a fake, the bizarre genetic secrets of Australia's platypus has been laid bare. Platypuses lay eggs and produce venom like some reptiles, but they sport furry coats and feed their young with milk like mammals. The odd creatures are classed as monotremes, with only one close relative – the echidna. But as primitive mammals that share the same ancestor as...

Triple bone structure arose independently in platypus and humans. Listen up: mammals seem to have evolved the delicate bone structure of the middle ear at least twice. The surprising discovery comes from a fossil, found off the southern coast of Australia, that belongs to an ancestor of the platypus. Modern mammals are unique among vertebrates for possessing three tiny bones in the middle ear. The malleus, incus and stapes (commonly known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup) work as part of a chain that transmits sound towards the skull. Birds and reptiles have only one bone to perform this function....

Australia was a divided nation last night as its troops prepared to join a United States-led invasion of Iraq and Federal Parliament descended into a bitter debate over waging war without specific United Nations backing. The Prime Minister came under heavy flak for committing the country to war after the US President, George Bush, gave Saddam Hussein and his sons until tomorrow to leave Iraq or face attack. John Howard said the coalition of US, British and Australian troops did not need further UN approval to launch the invasion. "The Government strongly believes that the decision it's taken is right,...