In short: Palaeontologists have named three new monotreme species, including an "echidnapus", which shares platypus and echidna characteristics. The fossils are around 100 million years old, but there ...

Australian researchers have found evidence of the oldest known platypus and a new species, dubbed 'echidnapus', which has a platypus-like anatomy alongside features that more closely resemble an ...

The Australian platypus is one of Earth’s most unusual creatures — but there was a time when it might not have stood out in a crowd. In roughly 100-million-year-old rocks in Australia, scientists have ...

Monotremes, found only in Australia and New Guinea, are unique mammals that lay eggs, combining features of reptiles and mammals. This group includes the platypus and four echidna species. They ...

The story of two of the strangest animals on the planet just got a little stranger, thanks to clues revealed by a lone fossil specimen that scientists now say represents a long-extinct ancestor. The ...

Only two kinds of egg-laying mammals are left on the planet today—the duck-billed platypus and the echidna, or spiny anteater. These odd “monotremes” once dominated Australia, until their ...

The duck-billed platypus is quite the strange mammal. Because it has a bill like a duck, lays eggs like a bird, has poisoned spurs, and swims around in the water with webbed feet and a paddle-like ...

When it comes to Australian animals, platypuses and echidnas have to take the cake for being the weirdest. These two mammals are so unique they form their own little group, called the monotremes. The ...

Amy Y. Conry Davis is a writer who specializes in green living, sustainability, and travel. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of San Diego. With its distinct duck-like bill, this ...

Six monotremes living in the same place at the same time, 100 million years ago at Lightning Ridge, NSW. Clockwise from lower left: Opalios splendens, a newly described species dubbed an ‘echidnapus’; ...