Quiz on Platypus

In the wild, the platypus is found only in which country?

• Australia ✓ (Correct answer)
• New Zealand
• Indonesia
• South Africa

Source: The platypus lives only in eastern Australia and Tasmania, found nowhere else on Earth.

The platypus's snout is most often compared to which animal's body part?

• A pig's snout
• A parrot's beak
• A duck's bill ✓ (Correct answer)
• A frog's mouth

Source: Its flat, rubbery snout earned it the nickname 'duck-billed platypus.'

Where does the platypus spend most of its time hunting for food?

• Ocean reefs
• Coastal swamps
• Rivers and streams ✓ (Correct answer)
• Rainforest treetops

Source: Platypuses are freshwater animals, paddling through rivers and streams to find their prey.

Despite its odd looks, the platypus belongs to which group of animals?

• Birds
• Mammals ✓ (Correct answer)
• Reptiles
• Amphibians

Source: Even though it has a bill and lays eggs, the platypus is a true mammal that nurses its young.

How does the platypus stay warm and dry while swimming?

• Oily scales
• A thick blubber layer
• A coat of feathers
• Dense waterproof fur ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: One of the densest furs in nature traps a layer of air to keep the platypus warm underwater.

The platypus's broad, flat tail looks most like that of which animal?

• A beaver ✓ (Correct answer)
• A fish
• An otter
• A crocodile

Source: Its paddle-shaped tail resembles a beaver's and stores fat reserves for lean times.

How does the platypus reproduce, unlike almost every other mammal?

• Gives live birth
• Carries young in a pouch
• Splits in two
• Lays eggs ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: It's one of only five mammal species on Earth that lay eggs instead of giving birth.

What do platypuses mainly eat?

• Seeds and fruit
• Insect larvae and worms ✓ (Correct answer)
• Small fish
• Live frogs

Source: It scoops insect larvae, worms, and shellfish off the riverbed and stores them in cheek pouches.

When swimming underwater, what does the platypus do with its eyes?

• Uses a clear extra eyelid
• Keeps them wide open
• Closes them completely ✓ (Correct answer)
• Covers them with fur

Source: It shuts its eyes, ears, and nose underwater and hunts using only its sensitive bill.

What surprising weapon do male platypuses carry?

• A venomous spur ✓ (Correct answer)
• Sharp front claws
• A stinging tail
• Poisonous teeth

Source: Males have a venomous spur on each hind leg, making them one of the few venomous mammals alive.

Roughly how big is an adult platypus from head to tail?

• About a house cat ✓ (Correct answer)
• About a mouse
• About a large dog
• About a grown human

Source: Adult platypuses are only about 40 to 50 cm long, roughly the size of a small house cat.

How does the platypus find prey with its eyes shut underwater?

• By echolocation
• By sensing electric fields ✓ (Correct answer)
• By smell
• By tasting the water

Source: Its bill detects the faint electric fields made by prey muscles, a sense called electroreception.

Besides the platypus, which animal is also an egg-laying mammal?

• The koala
• The wombat
• The opossum
• The echidna ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Only the platypus and the echidna are monotremes, the mammals that lay eggs.

When the first platypus reached British scientists in the 1700s, what did they suspect?

• That it was extinct
• That it was a hoax ✓ (Correct answer)
• That it was a giant rat
• That it could fly

Source: Experts thought someone had sewn a duck's bill onto a beaver and suspected an elaborate hoax.

Scientists discovered in 2020 that platypus fur does what under ultraviolet light?

• Turns transparent
• Repels all water
• Changes with the seasons
• Glows blue-green ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Under UV light, platypus fur glows a ghostly blue-green, a trait called biofluorescence found in 2020.

How do mother platypuses get milk to their babies, lacking a usual feature?

• Milk seeps through their skin ✓ (Correct answer)
• Through a single teat
• By regurgitating food
• From a belly pouch

Source: Platypuses have no nipples, so milk oozes through skin patches and the babies lap it from the fur.

With no teeth, how do adult platypuses grind up their food?

• Strong jaw plates
• A bird-like gizzard
• Gravel from the riverbed ✓ (Correct answer)
• Acidic saliva

Source: Adults are toothless and store gravel in their cheek pouches to mash prey before swallowing.

In 'Phineas and Ferb,' what is the name of the secret-agent platypus?

• Petey
• Perry ✓ (Correct answer)
• Pascal
• Porter

Source: Perry the Platypus, codename Agent P, secretly battles the bumbling Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

On which Australian coin does the platypus appear?

• The 5 cent
• The 50 cent
• The 20 cent ✓ (Correct answer)
• The 10 cent

Source: The platypus has featured on Australia's 20 cent coin since decimal currency began in 1966.

What is unusual about the platypus's sex chromosomes compared to humans?

• It has none at all
• It has only one
• Both sexes are identical
• It has ten of them ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Humans have two sex chromosomes; the platypus has ten, the most known of any mammal.