"When the first specimen of a platypus arrived in England in 1799 it was greeted with astonishment and disbelief. What was this strange creature from the new colony of Australia? It defied rational explanation, with its webbed feet and duck's beak attached to what seemed to be a mammal's body-surely it was a hoax on the part of those cheeky new colonials? As eighteenth century naturalists struggled to classify the platypus, the little animal excited curiosity and sparked fierce debate in international scientific circles, drawing in leaders of zoology and comparative anatomy in Britain and Europe. This is the enigmatic story of a biological riddle that confounded scientists for nearly ninety years, challenging theories of creationism, evolution and the classification of species along the way. Secretive, elusive and beguiling, the platypus has continued to captivate public and scientific attention to the present day." -- BOOK JACKET.
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"When the first specimen of a platypus arrived in England in 1799 it was greeted with astonishment and disbelief. What was this strange creature from the new colony of Australia? It defied rational explanation, with its webbed feet and duck's beak attached to what seemed to be a mammal's body-surely it was a hoax on the part of those cheeky new colonials? As eighteenth century naturalists struggled to classify the platypus, the little animal excited curiosity and sparked fierce debate in international scientific circles, drawing in leaders of zoology and comparative anatomy in Britain and Europe. This is the enigmatic story of a biological riddle that confounded scientists for nearly ninety years, challenging theories of creationism, evolution and the classification of species along the way. Secretive, elusive and beguiling, the platypus has continued to captivate public and scientific attention to the present day." -- BOOK JACKET.
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Ann Moyal's portrait of the evolution of science with the Platypus as the centrefold was richly rewarding. The detail is a blessing as is the easy description of scientific terminology. I probably learnt as much about science as I did about the platypus. Complaints ? I don't read fiction so I love this stuff and it was too short. C'mon Ann, what's next ? *****
Professor Donald Mitchell
"Jesus Makes Me a Practical Optimist"
(Boston)
The humble platypus, which few have seen in the wild, created more biological debate in the 19th century than any other animal. In the 20th century, observations led to startling new findings about how the platypus reflects advanced evolutionary development.
When I went to Australia, the platypus was on my most-hoped-to-see list. Fortunately, there was a nice habitat in the Sydney zoo that helped me to learn more about them. The platypus uses burrows as its land home, but spends a lot of time in the water. The platypus can consume half its weight a day in live food. To locate that much food, it relies on an advanced electrolocation method involving its duck-like bill. This method is more effective than the sonar-like methods used by other animals.
Well, what is a platypus? First, you notice the duck-like bill. Perhaps a bird? Second, you notice the fur. Perhaps a mammal? Third, you see the webbed feet. Back to bird? Fourth, close examination shows that the platypus has mammary glands. Mammal? Fifth, the platypus lays eggs that are like those of reptiles. Reptile?
These days, the view is that the platypus is a mammal that lays eggs, along with the echidna. But both animals confounded 19th century naturalists before Darwin when Divine Creation was the dominant theory of evolution. Elaborate classification schemes had been developed that traced everything into one neat family or another. The platypus did not fit.
The first specimens were sent back pickled in alcohol to England and later to France, where dissection sparked a continuing debate about whether or not the platypus had mammary glands and whether or not their young could suckle. How the young were born was a complete mystery.
The mystery could have been solved much sooner, but Europeans chose to ignore what Aborigines and Australians told them about the platypus. So European naturalists came and slaughtered thousands, looking for pregnant and ovulating female platypuses.
Attempts to transport platypuses live failed for a long time, as did attempts to maintain them in captivity.
Eventually, observations by European naturalists established the truth. By the time that Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, the platypus had become one of his greatest examples of natural selection. The platypus had kept some reptile-like features while having evolved into a mammal. Little did he know that the bill's sensors would become the strongest evidence for his argument.
The book is well illustrated with many drawings and a few photographs that provide helpful perspective on this little-known creature.
Ms. Moyal does a fine job of giving us a Down Under view of all this. She combines solid science, explained simply, with a subtle wit about the false speculations and plodding methods of pompous, well-respected scientists. You will enjoy what she has to say.
After you finish this fine book, I suggest that you think about where the evidence around you contradicts what you have been told. For example, it is argued that education is very essential for children. What are the things that children learn to do outside of school (like walk, talk, ride a bicycle, develop a moral sense, and sometimes to read) compared to what they learn in school (like sometimes to read, how to use maps, calculate geometry, and do art projects)? What are the implications for how children and adults could learn more?
The platypus is such a quiet and secretive creature, it is hard now to comprehend that during the nineteenth century it created a firestorm of controversy, or at least as much of a firestorm as academic biology endures. The extent of the controversy, and the history of science's dealings with the strange creature, are the subjects of _Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World_ (Smithsonian Institution Press) by Ann Moyal. If you know little about the creature, you can learn plenty here, but more important is the story of how humans attempted to capture, understand, and classify the animal and how it came to play a role in the great debate over evolution.
The platypus was such an oddity that at first no one believed it could actually exist. With an animal that was an amphibian quadruped with webbed feet, fur, and the beak of a duck, it is not surprising that some suspected a hoax. Central to classifying the platypus were the two questions concerning reproduction: did it produce live young, and did it produce milk for them? Richard Owen, the most influential naturalist before Darwin and who had an encyclopedic knowledge of anatomy of many species, was able to confirm the stories that the reclusive platypus did suckle its young, but the question of birth proved more troublesome. The obvious way to settle such a question would be to find a platypus home and see, but the retiring and removed nature of the creature prevented this for decades. Instead of suspending judgement on the question until this could be done, naturalists formed ranks on different sides, and argued over the issue in what seems now a useless and puzzling manner. Owen, originally a friend of Darwin and then a fierce opponent of evolution, tended to examine evidence to show his own view that the platypus had live birth, but it was not until 1884 that a naturalist shot a platypus which had laid an egg and had another coming down the cloaca. The long controversy was ended, and the aging Owen must have heard the news, but unfortunately his views on the discovery are unknown.
Moyal's book is beautifully illustrated, with pictures of the platypus as envisioned by naturalists through the centuries. It is full of interesting facts about one of the most peculiar creatures on the Earth, one which has yielded surprising findings even after the big controversies were settled. For instance, although there is no placenta to connect the young with the mother platypus, the egg within the uterus is nourished by absorption into its shell, a process which egg-laying birds and reptiles do not share. Another surprising finding, and this only in the last couple of decades, is that the distinctive bill of the platypus (and it isn't hard like a duck's, but soft and flexible) contains a battery of electroreceptors which are so sensitive they can detect the tiny muscle discharges of the shrimp and worms on which the platypus feeds. The platypus, as revealed in this well-written and admiring volume, is not a primitive throwback as researchers from the nineteenth century believed, but a fully evolved creature of surprising beauties and complexities.
The Sydney Morning Herald..., Saturday 19 September 1925 p 11 ... EGO. Platypus,Platypus, tell me as you float Why you have a duck's face with a furry coat 7 ... Platypus,Platypus, take me for a dive; I only want to see how it is you keep alive. V iat I want to know is, the dinner that you seek, . And how you ever catch It with your funny old beak. Platypus, ... 118 words
The Canberra Times (ACT..., Friday 25 June 1943 p 1 ... PLATYPUS RUG Wednesday.-"The Times" publishes a.' three-line advertisement: "A unique offer. Australian duckbill platypus rug, value £1,000, for sale." The seller is not named, ... 24 words
The Argus (Melbourne,..., Saturday 4 May 1940 p 3 ... PLATYPUS WANTED 1 With the permission of the Victorian I Government, Mr. David Fleay, of the Sir I Colin MacKenzie sanctuary, has undertaken taken to catch a platypus for the Adelaide ZOO; ... 32 words