Last Update: February 18, 1997'Oh really,' said Picard, not buying it for asecond. 'And just where, in all aspects of creation, canyour hand be seen?' Q smiled toothily. Who do you think cameup with the duck-billed platypus?'

Other Links: This Creation Magazine article argues thatthe platypus is inexplicable in evolutionary terms. Chris Nedin briefly describes the natural history ofthe marsupials, close cousins of the monotremes.his article is a briefintroduction to the platypus, and to arguments that someyoung-earth creationists have made about it.The platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus is one ofthe most unusual of living creatures. It is a mammal whichhas fur and suckles its young, but it also lays eggs, haswebbed feet, a bill that looks like that of a duck, and atail resembling that of a beaver. Sega genesis classic. Males have a poisonousspur on their hind legs which can cause excruciating painto humans and kill dogs.

Yes, platypus are already odd by nature. What would happen if mutations started happening to them? Find out in Platypus Evolution! From the minds that brought you Cow Evolution and forever changed the way you see bovines, comes a new game that somehow manages to be even crazier and more nonsensical. We can all agree that platypus are unique.

The platypus and three species ofechidna (also known as spiny anteaters) are the only livingmembers of a group of animals called monotremes. Platypuses(or platypi) are small animals; the largest ever found was5 lbs and just over 2 feet (610 mm) in length.

Usually theyare only about 1.5 feet (460 mm) in length.In general, the platypus has a fascinating mixture ofreptilian and mammalian features. Mammalian traits includefur and mammary glands.

Reptilian traits include the layingof eggs, and a common rectal and urinogenital opening, orcloaca (hence 'monotreme', Latin for 'single hole'). Thereare a number of skeletal features of the pectoral girdlethat are found only in therapsids, extinct mammal-likereptiles thought to be ancestral to mammals. This mixtureis even found at the cellular level; the chromosomes andsperm of platypuses display both reptilian and mammaliantraits. However the platypus is not a 'living fossil', since itdoes not closely resemble the primitive mammals from whichit evolved. It has many specialized features which haveevolved since the monotreme lineage separated from that ofthe other mammals.

The Fossil RecordFollowing is a list of the platypus fossils found todate. Unfortunately it is quite a short list, as theAustralian fossil record is not particularly rich.In 1971, two fossil platypus teeth were discovered inthe Tirari Desert in South Australia. They are about 25million years old, and have been named Obdurodoninsignis. The modern platypus has only vestigial teethwhich are replaced by horny pads when it is still ajuvenile. The fossil teeth are similar enough to thesevestigial teeth to allow identification, and they show thatancient platypuses had teeth as adults.Since then, central Australiahas produced a few more isolated teeth, a fragment of alower jaw, and a part of a pelvis.In 1984, an opalised jaw fragment with three teeth inplace, belonging to either a platypus or a platypus-likemonotreme, was discovered at Lightning Ridge in New SouthWales.

This fossil was 110 million years old, and is namedSteropodon galmani. It was the first known mammal from theMesozoic (the Age of Dinosaurs) in Australia. It may havebeen the largest mammal from the Cretaceous period anywherein the world, although it is less than twice the size ofthe modern platypus.A few fossil teeth were discovered in 1984 at theRiversleigh site in Queensland. This was followed in 1985by a spectacular find: an almost complete skull of a fossilplatypus about 15 to 20 million years old. This has beennamed Obdurodon dicksoni (; ). Its skull is more generalized,and about 25% longer, than that of the modern platypus.Some other fossils, including a partial lower jaw, havesince been discovered at Riversleigh.In 1991 and 1992, Obdurodon-like teeth werediscovered in Argentina in strata dated to 61-63 millionyears old.

They have been named Monotrematumsudamericanum.South America, like Australia, was once part of thesuper-continent of Gondwana, and this find shows thatplatypuses existed in other parts of Gondwana besidesAustralia. What do Creationists say?Scott Huse starts hisdiscussion of the platypus by saying: 'Evolutionists insist that the duck-billedplatypus is an evolutionary link between mammals andbirds.' This quote in itself is enough to show how abysmalHuse's knowledge of evolution is. Evolutionists say nothingof the sort.