Born On A Cusp

I’ve always thought the platypus looked odd.

And, apparently, so does the rest of the world. Such is the curiosity about the platypus that scientists have been hard at work trying to learn more about it. They spent years decoding the platypus genome and analysing it. They’re done, and have shared with the world what they learned — that the platypus is, indeed, no simple creature: it is part bird, part reptile, and part lactating mammal. A genetic hodgepodge, in other words.

The platypus is classified as a mammal because it produces milk and is covered in coat of thick fur. It has reptile-like attributes too: females lay eggs, and males can stab enemies with a venom that flows from a spur tucked under its hind feet. The bird-like qualities, meanwhile, include webbed feet, a flat bill similar to a duck’s, and the gene sequences that determine sex: humans have two sex chromosomes, platypuses have 10.

“It is much more of a melange than anyone expected,” said one of the genome analysts.

Suddenly you feel so ordinary.