![]() A 2014 study found that, while all mammals' milk has antibacterial properties, platypus milk seems to have very special antimicrobial powers.Ī new study published Main the journal Structural Biology Communications reports that the biochemical reason for the special bug-busting properties of platypus milk is predictably weird: It contains a protein with a unique and previously unknown structure that might be key in fighting bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics. But don't worry - platypus evolution came up with a solution to the problem of bacteria. And if you think that might be a bit unsanitary, especially for an animal that swims around in farm ponds all day, you'd be right. Although platypuses (yes, you can also say platypi and platypodes, if you want) nurse their young, they don't have nipples, so the milk just sort of oozes out of their mammary glands and the babies lap it up off their mother's fur. The males have venomous spurs on their hind legs, they don't use their tails to steer or propel them through the water, but to store body fat, and their bills are so sensitive they can detect the electromagnetic fields radiated by other organisms, allowing them to swim with their ears, eyes and nose closed.īut listen, it gets weirder. This egg-laying mammal chews its food with gravel because it lacks teeth - in fact, it doesn't even have a stomach, but an esophagus that connects directly to its intestines. And it's not like the platypus's outlandish appearance is just a cover for an unremarkable physiology and life history.
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