Was the platypus thought to be a fake?
At the end of the 18th century, a specimen arrived in Britain from Australia: a beaver-like body with a duck’s bill and webbed feet. Its appearance was so strange that scientists suspected it was “a fake stitched together from animals.” At the time, fake specimens of exotic animals made from parts were sometimes brought from the East.
How it was discovered and confirmed
In 1799, George Shaw, a naturalist at the British Museum, gave it a scientific description. Shaw himself was at first doubtful and is said to have checked for stitches at the base of the bill. Complete specimens later arrived one after another, confirming that it was real, but the claim that “it is a mammal yet lays eggs” was long disbelieved, and the matter was settled only in 1884, when a researcher confirmed the eggs.
What we know today
Together with the echidnas, the platypus belongs to the monotremes, primitive egg-laying mammals. Its bill has sensors that detect electricity, letting it hunt prey underwater with its eyes closed. It is also known for the venomous spur on the male’s hind legs.
