Study
Field biology of the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus): historical and current perspectives
Grant, T. R.; Temple-Smith, P. D.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 1998
A synthesis of platypus field biology: distribution, burrow use, activity patterns, breeding, growth and the history of how each was established, including the long European refusal to accept that the animal existed.
- Studied in
- Ornithorhynchus anatinus
- Sample size
- review of two centuries of platypus field research
Platypuses occupy freshwater systems in eastern Australia and Tasmania, are chiefly nocturnal and crepuscular, and use burrows dug into banks. Females dig a longer nesting burrow, lay one to three eggs, incubate them by curling around them for around ten days, and suckle the young for three to four months. Lifespan in the wild reaches around twenty years.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Platypus biology was established slowly and against considerable resistance, and much of the reproductive biology remained unconfirmed for decades after it was first proposed.
How NatureHQ reads it
The history is worth telling because it explains a stubborn misconception. When the first specimen reached London in 1799 it was widely taken for a hoax — a duck bill sewn onto a mammal — and the suspicion persisted for years. Egg-laying was not confirmed until 1884, nearly a century after the animal was described. That long delay is why "part duck, part beaver" framing stuck: the animal was defined by comparison to other animals before anyone understood it on its own terms.
- A review, so it inherits the unevenness of a literature concentrated in a few accessible catchments.
- Burrow biology in particular remains poorly observed, since watching inside one is nearly impossible.
- Population estimates are qualitative; platypuses are difficult to census.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
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Published by: The Royal SocietyPublished by the Royal Society.
doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1998.0267
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
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