A ‘living fossil’ has been determined as ‘an organism that has remained essentially unchanged from earlier geological times and who’s close relatives are usually extinct’ (Merriam-Webster, 1859). This is suggesting that the Duck-billed Platypus, more commonly known as the Platypus, would still be in its primitive form and have similar characteristics to it ancestors. Anyone looking at the Platypus can identify its abnormalities as it is so distinctively unique in the animal kingdom. Its name on its own is a contradiction as we know that the Platypus is not the same species as a duck, yet they have been brought together. Anyone observing the animal can see that it has a bill and webbed feet like a duck, sleek fur like an otter, and a paddle-shaped tail like a beaver. According to the BBC, when Australians first brought their native Platypus to Britain, people …show more content…
In modern nature, venomous mammals are rare, with only tree orders of the class Mammalia that produce venom; these are Euripotyphla (moles, shrews, hedgehogs), Chiroptera (bats) and Monotremata (our modern Platypus). Their sting is excruciatingly painful, causing rapid swelling to the affected area. Although not lethal to humans, their blow can be fatal to smaller animals such as dogs. Studies on venomous snakes conclude that poison production is due to the result of evolution. According to national geographic, the same genes that appear in the modern Platypus DNA were modified in a separate process to snakes, suggesting that they might not have the same origin of evolution. Rebecca Pian claimed that “the evolution of the Platypus is potentially more complicated than we thought” in her published study (Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology) As discussed later, palaeontologists now know that they did not evolve from reptiles at