DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Duck-billed platypus

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/dək-bɪld plˈætəpˌʊs/ Listen

Duck-billed platypus

noun

Small densely furred aquatic monotreme of Australia and Tasmania having a broad bill and tail and webbed feet; only species in the family Ornithorhynchidae. Synonyms: duckbill, duckbilled platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, platypus.

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Etymology of 'Duck-billed platypus'

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"Duck-billed platypus" Quotes from Famous Books

... scavenging, thieving, poaching brown rat—when it lives near a pond or stream, learns to swim and dive as naturally as a duck. Next comes the vole, or water-rat, which will not live away from water. Then there are water shrews, the beaver, otter, duck-billed platypus, and a host of others, not related, just as, among birds, there are water ousels, moorhens, ducks, divers, etc., which have permanently made the water their home and seek their living in it. All these have attained to web-footedness in ...

— Concerning Animals and Other Matters • E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton)

... of beasts, we have two extremely exceptional mammals (both found only in the Australian region), the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus), and the Echidna. The first of these, as its name implies, has a muzzle quite like the bill of a duck, with a squat, hairy body, and short limbs. The echidna is covered with strong, dense spines, and has a long and slender snout. These creatures together form the order Monotremata—an ...

— The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, September 1879 • Various

Words linked to "Duck-billed platypus" : genus Ornithorhynchus, monotreme, duckbill, Ornithorhynchus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, egg-laying mammal, duckbilled platypus