Imagine a creature that looks like a mashup from a child’s wildest dreams: a furry animal with the bill of a duck, the tail ...

The latest research suggests that echidnas and platypuses originate from an aquatic ancestor, rather than a terrestrial one, ...

A team of scientists from Australia and the United Kingdom has finally elucidated the strange sex chromosome system of the duck-billed platypus. The first study, the findings of which are published ...

Analysis of single bone may tell us if the platypus is an evolutionary anomaly — starting on land, then returning to water.

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.

The aquatic life was believed to have attracted a subset, which evolved into the duck-billed platypus with webbed feet. The others decided to remain on land and become round echidnas with ...