• CBBC
• Wild
• Amazing Animals
• Duck-Billed Platypus

The egg-laying mammal with the flat feet

• A platypus was first brought to Britain in the 1700s. People thought someone had sewn a duck's bill onto a mammal's body as a joke!
• Platypus is Greek for 'flat feet'. Although it can't move very easily on land, the platypus is an excellent swimmer. It uses its webbed forefeet like paddles.
• The male has a sharp, poisonous spur on its rear ankles which it will use in self-defence, or when fighting rivals for a mate.

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