The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) has a puzzling array of features. Not only does it have that iconic duck bill, it lays eggs like a bird or reptile but feeds milk to its young like a mammal.

In 2008, scientists deciphered the entire DNA of the duck-billed platypus and determined that, in accordance with the animal’s somewhat bizarre appearance, the platypus shared genes with ...

Nicknamed "kamonohashi" (platypus) for its unique, duck-billed front profile, which looks like the elongated snout of the egg-laying aquatic monotreme mammal, this type of Shinkansen made its ...

Platypuses may have some duck-like characteristics, but they are a rare type of mammal called a monotreme. Monotremes differ from other mammals because they lay eggs instead of giving birth.