It seems the platypus really is God’s little joke.
DNA studies recently found out that the reason the widely-agreed-to-be-mammalian-platypus exhibits characteristics of mammals, birds, and reptiles is, no joke, platypus have DNA structures of mammals, birds, and reptiles.
Aside from this strangely believable piece of news, it has also been discovered that these stupid creatures the noble platypus has 10 sex chromosomes. You have 2 (most likely). Ten chromosomes, 5 of the X variety, and 5 of the Y. Theoretically, that’s 25 possible genders.
The animal first believed to be a clever prank has risen to the ranks of being plausible evidence of evolution.
The unique genetic make-up of the platypus suggests that the platypus was one of the earliest creatures to evolve into a mammal. It is thought that the platypus made the transition from reptile to mammal about 166 million years ago. Amazingly, the genes the platypus has hold information from the transitional period of the evolutionary timeline when reptiles started taking on the traits of mammals.
Until the recent discovery of the overly simple solution to the enigma that is the platypus, biologists were hopelessly baffled by this strange animal.
It has thick fur and produces milk—like a mammal. Like a bird it has a bill, and lays eggs. The male platypus has the reptilian ability to shoot venom. Laying eggs is also a reptilian trait.
What an odd duck.
Platypus proves even odder than scientists thought (The Guardian)
Platypus Genome Reveals Secrets of Mammal Evolution (National Geographic News)
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I heard about this on NPR this week while the boys were in the car, and it is seriously all they are talking about now! It blew their little minds! What blew my mind was the fact that they grasped any of what the scientists were saying on the report. Middle Child's favorite part was the venom in the legs. Weird stuff, man. It packs its own date rape drug. I used to think they were kind of cute...now they're just scary.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I heard it on NPR 2 or 3 days ago as well and thought, oh. I thought they already knew that. It just seems like such an obvious answer... it's all 3 classes of animal... because it's all 3 classes of animal. :-P
After reading about it again yesterday on the Guardian website, I was inspired to blogospherize it. :-)
Maybe they were able to grasp it so well because of how simple it really seems (but probably isn't). Plus, shooting venom is cool. I wish my car could do that to tailgaters...
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Oh, oh! I knew that! I read an article before school yesterday, and I kept telling everyone! I was always taught that it was a mammal...just a mammal...
But now it's proven to be all three! Yatta! Hooray! It's exciting!
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I was always taught it was a mammal too. Because of the fur. Only mammals have fur. Something weird like that. It's a mammal, a very strange mammal.
I think it's still classified a mammal, and it just has DNA of all three? I have no idea now.
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It is classified as a mammal, but it is known to be an exception. If I recall correctly, it is considered a "non-placental mammal" because it lays eggs. But, I took the class that deals with this a few years ago, so I'm not 100% sure.
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That's something special....
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This post was brought to you buy insomnia. The only 2 ideas in my head were a platypus post or some research linking being tall with a decreased risk of alzheimers. I figured I'd save the good one for when I was coherent. ;-)
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I'm six feet tall!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Yeah, strike through doesn't work. I think it used too (or was supposed too) and it just went weird... Fanaile would know.
http://progressiveu.org/filter/tips has a list of the various HTML tags that you can use
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It's probably for the best. It's bad enough there are entire pages in bold because someone didn't close a tag in a post or comment. It would be completely obnoxious to see an entire page of crossed-out text.
::edit:: haha! I figured it out, thanks to the link provided by Fallon. If anyone else finds the not-so-secret code, don't abuse the power!
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My sister's favorite animal when she was younger was the platypus. I told her she was weird for liking them. But I do have to admit, the platypus is one fascinating creature (and their name is fun to say).
THe platypus has always been high on my favorites list. And it IS a lot of fun to say its name. ^-^ A teacher at my school yesterday came up with a fun tongue-twister: Peter My Pet Platyupus.
It's actually kinda hard to say fast. xD I don't usually get tongue-tied, but this did it quite a few times, saying "Plet Platypus" and "Pet Peterpus."
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
I end up saying "my plet patapus."
it is fun to say. :-)
It used to be on my list of favorites when I was younger. I have moved on to penguins and moose though.
Moose is also fun to say if you have a funny midwest accent. ;-)
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Penguins have always been high on my list. I wanted to keep one in my freezer when I was younger. I thought it would be the coolest thing ever.
Since I don't have a funny Midwest accent, I guess I don't know how fun it is to say Moose. Although, it is kind of fun to try. I think I'll try saying Moose in a funny Australian accent next....
I read a book when I was 4 or 5 about a man who keeps penguins in his house and his house is cold all the time because he leaves the freezer door open (as I got older [by whole days], I learned that wouldn't actually work; it just burns the motor out and ruins all the food). It's called Mr. Popper's Penguins. I think that's when I first started loving penguins... :-)
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I absolutely loved Mr. Pooper's Penguins! It's what made me want a penguin too!
I read that book about 20 times in first grade! It was one of my favorites as well.
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When I wanted a pet penguin, I just decided that I would move to Antarctica. :)X
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haha. I lived in Alaska when I was younger so it was close enough. :-P I'm pretty sure there weren't penguins in North Pole, though. :-/
This whole thread just keeps making me want to watch Good Luck Chuck again, btw. :-)
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No, but the North Pole has polar bears!
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
I think we are talking about different North Poles.
all we had were grizzly bears, moose, deer, caribou, elk, and ptarmigan. :-)
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Sorry...it's a habit of mine to mention polar bears whenever Alaska is brought up. xD I have no clue why, either. Probably something from when I was a small child...>.>
I think Alaska, I think polar bears...
And then I randomly spout it at people...
And I put a the in there where I shouldn't have, now that I look at my last comment...whoops. xD I really can't type coherently today.
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Ptarmigan! That's another fun animal word!
What do you think they could call the 25 different genders that they can be? Millions of years from now, will human evolve to some sort of species where there will be more than simply male and female?
An even more interesting question would be what the 25 different sex organs would looks like.........I am picturing things in my head, but I'm not sure I can describe for fear of being labeled a pervert
rofl rofl rofl
Certainly gives a whole new meaning to unicorn, doesn't it?
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~Fallon~
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't- A. France
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Whoa, I wonder if it would be a combination type thing, or just more of the same thing. Strange thoughts! /::)
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I love the title of this entry. I couldn't not read it.
Nice blog entry. The platypus really is a strange--I mean noble--creature. 10 sex chromosomes!? Dear, dear that's a lot to keep track of. I guess the guys can't make that crack about women who feel they're superior cuz they have two X chromosomes. Chances are, the guys have a couple too!
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I couldn't not reference Dogma throughout this entire thing. ;-)
I think some human males have, rarely, 2 X or 2 Y chromosomes as well. That's why I added the "probably" in my post (or whatever feeble disclaimer attempt I wrote). But that's like 3, vs 10. Perhaps the noble platypus is truly the superior species... ;-)
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