The platypus is among the nature´s most unlikely animals. Its scientific name is Ornithorhynchus anatinus, which in Greek means “duck-like”. The body and the tail of this mammal are covered with waterproof, thick, brown fur which works to trap air and keep itself warm. It has webbed feet and a snout, which are characteristics that can also be found in a duck, thus many people relate them. One of the rare characteristics that this animal has is that its webbing, found in the front feet more significantly than the back ones, folds back when walking on land. The snout of the platypus, unlike the peak of a bird, is a sensory organ that has the mouth and nostrils, leaving the eyes and ears are located just back from it.
The platypi, both male and female are born with a spur on their ankle, although only male produce venom which is mainly composed by DLP´s (defensing-like proteins). The DLP´s are produced only by this mammal. This venom is powerful enough to kill smaller animals like dogs, but it is not lethal to
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But now, directly comparing them to other mammals, the platypus is one of only two monotremes, which are mammals who lay eggs. The other one is the echidna. Unlike “normal” mammals like lions or pretty much anyone that can come up to your mind right now, these two (platypus and echidna) lay eggs. Another difference is that the adult platypi do not have teeth but they have heavily keratinized pads instead, while most mammals have teeth. In all mammals, the tiny bones that conduct sound in the ear are incorporated to the skull, rather than in the jaw as in the cynodonts. However, the external opening of the ear is still in the base of the jaw. The platypus has extra bones in the shoulder, one of them is called the interclavicle, which is a bone not found in any other mammal. Also, its legs are in the side of its body, like a reptile, and not underneath like other
The Pygmy three-toed- sloths are described to have buff-colored faces with dark circles that surround the eye and go outwards to their temples. Like all sloths, they are always in doldrums which can be very unbeneficial to them. They have clay-orange fur that covers their face and their hair is long and bushy. “Long hair hangs forward to the forehead, giving the impression of a hood” (Grzimek 161). Their outer fur has coated an alga that is used as camouflage to avoid predators. If they were attacked, they have a high probability of surviving due to their ability to heal from grievous wounds. These sloths have a total of 18 teeth, 10 coming from their upper jaw. Similar to other sloths their body temperature regulation is imperfect (“Bradypus pygmaeus pygmy three-toed sloth” (a)).
Purpose: To analyze and discuss the anatomy of the mink in order to compare to that of a human. Even though the mink’s anatomy will be a bit different some similarities could always be found.
In my last report on the mink’s external features in comparison to any human body, although there were clear differences, I was able to find many similarities between the two organisms who seemed very different at first sight. Clearly in this research and lab report about the respiratory system, similarities between humans and minks are not surprising.
Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs are closely related in their characteristics. Ceratopsians processed a saddle-shaped boney frill that extended from the skull to the neck and typically had horns over the nose and eyes. The most popular was the triceratops, which could reach over 26 feet and weigh in excess of twelve metric tons. Their frills served as two major functions. It protected the vulnerable neck from being harmed. The second major function that the frill provided was due to the fact that the frill contained a network of blood vessels on its underside, which were used as a means to get rid of excess heat. The Pachycephalosaurs were considered to be bipedal. They were also found to have thick skulls, flattened bodies, and tail that were covered in an array of body rods. Pachycephalosaurs were thought to have been more than fifteen feet long and processed a skull that was surrounded by a rounded dome of solid bone. It was thought that they used their heads in combat or mating contests, but that was disproved fairly recently, which I will discuss later in the paper. Both Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs were “bird-hipped” and both of these suborders contained a backwards pubic bone. Both were Marginocephilia, or “fringed heads”, which is one of three clads under the Orinthiscia order. They were also herbivore dinosaurs that inherited their fringe at the back of the skull from earlier ancestors.(2) Their classi...
Lerner, E. and Lerner, B., 2008. Giraffes and okapi. The Gale Encyclopedia of Science 4
A toxin, produced by an animal, can be a toxicant to humans, but it can also provide some favorable uses as well. Present one such example.
The results from the experiments supported the hypothesis that the batoid pelvic girdle shape correlated with the type of locomotion. They found that the form of locomotion utilized by the batoid had a greater determining factor on the shape of the pelvic girdle compared to the phylogeny. An important discovery of this experiment showed that the shape of the pelvic girdle of a batoid can be used to predict the swimming and punting mode, and the order to which the vertebrate
Evolution, also known as descent with modification, is a phrase Darwin used in proposing the evolution of Earth’s many species. Charles Darwin noticed that the descendants of ancestral species were different from the present day forms of species. Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin who was an English naturalist. He expounded the theory of evolution in his book of the Origin Species in 1859. He expresses that all types of organisms emerge and develop through natural selection, small, acquired traits that expands the individuals of capacity, survival, and reproduction. In this book, Darwin theorized that animals and plants evolve and develop with the aid of the creator through the process of natural selection.
Works Cited "Animal Planet" Animal Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 09 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
The first specimens of platypuses brought back to England were thought to be hoaxes similar to mermaids (Moyal, 2001). Found only in and around Australia, there are only three living species of monotremes: the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and two species of echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus, and Zaglossus bruijni). The word “monotreme” is Greek for “one-hole,” referring to the cloaca that is the exit for the urinary, reproductive, and excretory systems (Dawson, 1983). The creatures are oviparous—the females lay eggs that develop outside of her body. This paper will explain the background of the animals, the anatomy of the tract and egg, breeding behavior, and genetics behind this unique reproductive system.
Thanks to evolution, Penguins have evolved into a group of aquatic, fightless birds, that are highly adapted to life in the ocean. This not only makes them one of the divergent and strange species of birds, but also has allowed them to become such a sucessful species. Penguins are mostly located in the Southern hemisphere ranging anywhere from the Galapogos to the Antartic. Throughout their lives, Penguins spend around half their time in the ocean doing things such as catching food and the other half on land raising their young. Their distinct tuxedo-like apperience called countershading camoflages their bodies, protecting them from predators above and below. Through out the “stepping stones”, the penguins grew to have a dense bone containing
What makes a human a primate? A primate is defined by its many incredible features. A primate is a mammal that has certain characteristics such as: flexible fingers and toes, opposable thumbs, flatter face than other mammals, eyes that face forward and spaced close together, large and complex cerebrum, and social animals. What makes a primate a primate is its characteristics. Some of the physical features that primates can be identified by is by their teeth, snouts, eyes, ears, arms, legs, fingers, and their toes. One of the main things that categorizes a human has a primate is selective pressure, the second main thing is having similar features and characteristics. But both humans and non-humans have differences even though they are both primates.
The platypus is covered with a thick water-resistant fur, excluding its bill and feet. It’s body it streamlined, has short limbs and webbed forefeet to propel itself through water using an alternative kicking motion. The webs on the for...
In the family of the Spheniscidae lie the Penguins. They are covered with feathers and are warm blooded animals. They are aquatic and birdlike animals. There are 18 different species of penguins, and 6 genera’s. The major species of Spheniscidae include the Emperor Penguin, King Penguin, Royal Penguin, and many more. This one category of Spheniscidae has 3 sub families. Palaeeudyptinae which are Giant Penguins, Paraptenodytinae which are Stout-footed Penguins, and Palaeospheniscinae which are Slender-footed Penguins. All species are differentiated by their looks, characteristics and the way they live. Scientists might confirm a 19th species called Eudyptula Albosignat, also known as the white flippered form of a fairy
Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.