For six years the earnest curators of New York’s Bronx Zoo have busied themselves with the delicate problem of platypus family life. Platypus reproduction is a baffling business, for platypuses are ...

The platypus, a native of eastern Australia, is a puzzling creature with features from birds, mammals, and reptiles. Male platypuses possess a venomous spur, primarily used during breeding season.

The curious discovery of the duck-billed, egg-laying, otter-footed, beaver-tailed, venomous platypus in Australia in 1798 convinced British scientists that it must be a hoax. Sketches of its ...