"It's wonderful to see all of the different mishmash of features that the platypus exhibits; to see those features reflected in the DNA, in the genes of this creature, which has held mysteries for the scientists and the general population ever since it was discovered 200 years ago." - Dr. Ponting
Well there you have it. We've decoded the Paltypus genome only to discover it's a "mishmash of features that the platypus exhibits."
And in case you're wondering as to the title of this post, a small factoid shared in the article mentions that the Platypus utilizes electro-reception (detecting small variations in electrical fields) to detect prey in the water while only using it's eyes to out of water. So in essence, the platypus is magneto! Rock on!
5 comments:
so it has fure like a beaver, a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver, filpper hands like a frog, and sensory apparatus akin to a shark? the platypus just got a whole lot crazier for me.
hmmm...so they're like natures attempt genetically engineering the perfect predator.
When you put it that way...yeah, they rock hard.
I was just reading about that in New Scientist. Beat me to the punch. Go platypi, way to be freaks!
you forgot the poison barbs of awesomeness like... a... snake?
yeah so if this is natures attempt at the perfect predator I'm thinking this is round one. Always start with something you can control. Now you make a cheetah poisonous, amphibious, electrically powered with magnet radar and you've got a real weapon
ooo ooo flying marmots with poison fangs, sonar, and lasers that come out of their eyes. And they do this crazy static electricity thing with their fur that can do chain lightning or hold a bubble of air around them when they go underwater.
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