Before the discovery of egg-laying mammals, it was considered that the class mammal can only give birth to their children and feed milk through their mammary glands. When the first egg-laying mammal duck-billed platypus has discovered the scientists were in shock to accept the fact that there could be any animal who lays eggs and nurses milk to their babies after they hatch.
There are a total of five animals that have been discovered. The major two are duck-billed platypus and echidna. There are four types of echidnas. These animals are also called monotremes because they have a single cavity(cloaca) that acts as a digestive, urinary and reproductive tract and all of it empties through a single hole( monotreme means one hole).
The duck-billed platypus and echidnas have a variety of physical features which do not match with each other to some extent such as the duck-billed platypus has a big head with large eyes, they have a duck-like similar beak to catch the prey, they have webbed feet beaver-like tail and waterproof fur which makes them great swimmers. Echidnas have a small head with small eyes, there is a cylindrical beak-type snout present on the front which carries the sticky tongue that helps them capture insects for feeding purposes. They have strong claws that help them to dig the ground. They have spines on their body and a very small tail.
These animals are found on land as well as underwater. The duck-bill platypus likes to live in the rivers, lakes and coastal areas where it hunts crustaceans and other insect larvae. The echidnas are found on land that can be deserts, mountains, jungles and even grassy lands.
Both types of animals are solidarity in nature but they defend their territory in breeding seasons. Duck-billed platypus has venomous spurn in his hind limbs that help them fight against the enemy. Monotremes don’t have thermoregulation as efficient as those mammals that have placenta inside their body. They are active in warm temperatures and they conserve energy when the temperature drops.
Monotreme mother keeps the eggs in their body for some time so they can receive nutrients directly from her, after being laid the eggs take ten days to hatch, similar to marsupials newborn monotremes have fetus-like babies who relatively have well-developed forelimbs that enable them to crawl around and root towards the milk. Monotremes lack nipples, they have skin openings that ooze milk out for the babies to nurse. This is the reason monotremes have a high protein antibacterial milk that is not found in any of the mammals.
It is our observation that these animals are on earth to control the exceeding population of insects on land as well as underwater to maintain the balance. They are controlling it by eating the insects. They are known as the echo-system engineers as they aid in building and maintaining our surroundings.
If you encounter any egg-laying mammal in the wild just like Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. It is our humble request to not capture these animals for breeding, farming or pet purposes. You are suppose to treat them right and not disturb them. These animals are wild animals and are not supposed to be kept in captivity. Their clutch size is very less and a few of them survive till they become adults. If we destroy their habitat and hunt them or cage them, it will affect our echo- system and then eventually us.
