WEBVTT - How Do Platypuses Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum here. The duck bill platypus has been called

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of things since it arrived on the zoological

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<v Speaker 1>scene in seventeen ninety eight, but one adjective that's likely

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<v Speaker 1>never been applied to this mammal is normal. After all,

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<v Speaker 1>its physiology and anatomy borrow from birds, reptiles and mammals,

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<v Speaker 1>and a baffling conglomeration. Biology experts in England laughed off

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<v Speaker 1>the first skin and sketch brought over from its native Australia,

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<v Speaker 1>believing it to be a hoax, and a poorly constructed

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<v Speaker 1>one at that. Because the platypus has fur and the

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<v Speaker 1>female nurses it's young, the animal is classified as a mammal,

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<v Speaker 1>But a female platypus doesn't nurse with nipples. Instead, she

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<v Speaker 1>secretes milk into folds of her abdominal skin for the babies,

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<v Speaker 1>called puggles, to suckle on. They have duck bills and

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<v Speaker 1>webbed feet like birds, and lay soft, leathery eggs like reptiles. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>like birds and reptiles, platypuses only have one orifice for

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<v Speaker 1>the excretion of digestive remains and for reproduction the chloeca.

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<v Speaker 1>The only other living mammals on the planet with this

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<v Speaker 1>setup are echidnased. They're together in their own special taxonomical order,

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<v Speaker 1>the monotremes. The platypus even shares a special sensory capability

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<v Speaker 1>with sharks. The platypus lives in and around rivers and

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<v Speaker 1>feeds off of insects, larvae, shellfish, and worms, which it

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<v Speaker 1>locates underwater. Because it closes its eyes and seals off

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<v Speaker 1>its nostrils upon submersion, the scientists wondered how it manages

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<v Speaker 1>to hunt without the help of sight or smell. It

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<v Speaker 1>turns out that tiny pores called electroreceptors dot the platypus's bill.

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<v Speaker 1>These pores open up into sensitive nerve endings that can

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<v Speaker 1>detect changes in the electrical current in the water. Those

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<v Speaker 1>electrical currents could be caused by muscle movements or sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>by water rushing over stationary objects. As we've talked about

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<v Speaker 1>on the show before. Elector reception is the method that

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<v Speaker 1>lots of sharks used to hunt too. But these surprises

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<v Speaker 1>in this anatomical funhouse don't stop there. We have to

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<v Speaker 1>talk about another reptilian similarity platypus venom. The male platypus

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<v Speaker 1>as a spur on either hind foot that excretes venom.

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<v Speaker 1>Though females are also born with spurs, they fall off

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<v Speaker 1>before adulthood. Aside from two other mammals, a certain species

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<v Speaker 1>of shrew and solenodons, harboring venom is a trait usually

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<v Speaker 1>reserved for reptiles and amphibians. So why would the male

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<v Speaker 1>platypus need venom. This relatively docile animal has few predators,

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<v Speaker 1>which include carpet snakes, eels, and foxes, and it doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>use its venom for hunting. The only probable explanation that

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<v Speaker 1>researchers have come up with is that males use it

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<v Speaker 1>offensively during mating competition. To back this up, researchers point

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<v Speaker 1>to the fact that the male platypus produces venom mostly

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<v Speaker 1>during the spring, which is when platypus couples breed. Apparently,

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<v Speaker 1>the venom isn't meant to kill other males, only to

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<v Speaker 1>provide for a rousing fight. That said, for a human,

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<v Speaker 1>getting hit with a dose of platypus venom is said

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<v Speaker 1>to really hurt, even though the platypus only weighs around

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<v Speaker 1>five pounds that's about two point two kilos. There have

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<v Speaker 1>been recorded deaths due to platypus venom in pets like dogs.

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<v Speaker 1>There have been no recorded human fatalities, but the venom

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<v Speaker 1>will cause swelling at the wound site, an extreme pain

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<v Speaker 1>that can last for weeks and isn't touched by drugs

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<v Speaker 1>like morphine. Platypus venom share some molecules also found in

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<v Speaker 1>reptile venom, but researcher is determined that the platypus's venom

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<v Speaker 1>evolved separately, and weirdly enough, this offensive adaptation could end

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<v Speaker 1>up helping humans. Since the platypus is one of only

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<v Speaker 1>three mammals that produces venom, researchers want to determine the

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<v Speaker 1>specific pain response pathway that it stimulates in humans, because again,

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<v Speaker 1>our available painkillers don't affect it. They could then utilize

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<v Speaker 1>that information to develop new pain relief medications and possibly antibiotics.

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<v Speaker 1>Due to the platypus's many anomalies, more than one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>scientists collaborated for the Platypus Genome Project, which they completed

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<v Speaker 1>in spring of two thousand and eight. Like the human

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<v Speaker 1>Genome Project. This undertaking sought to map the entire platypus

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<v Speaker 1>genome to understand how an animal with such a hodgepodge

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<v Speaker 1>of traits could have possibly evolved. They determined the platypuses

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<v Speaker 1>split from our last common ancestor about one hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty six million years ago and share about eighty percent

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<v Speaker 1>of the same genetic coating as other mammals. One thing

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<v Speaker 1>that's different is that they don't have the X and

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<v Speaker 1>Y chromosomes that determine the sexes of offspring like in

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<v Speaker 1>many other mammals. Instead, platypus sex chromosomes more closely resemble

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<v Speaker 1>those of primitive birds, which could provide insight into the

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<v Speaker 1>genetic footprinting that led to our own coding. Now that

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<v Speaker 1>scientists know more about how this Australian animal evolved, it's

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<v Speaker 1>raised more questions as to why it is the way

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<v Speaker 1>it is and how it relates to mammals and birds

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<v Speaker 1>and reptiles. In just over two hundred years, the platypus

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<v Speaker 1>has ascended from a tax durmy hoax to a venomous

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<v Speaker 1>guide into the animal kingdom's many genetic puzzles. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on the article code a platypus poison Me

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<v Speaker 1>on how stuffworks dot com, written by Kristin Conger. Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang. For

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