The platypus is such a strange animal that it was originally thought to be an elaborate hoax by pranksters When European ...

What on earth is a platypus? Even its name seems strange. When Europeans first heard the startling news of a newly discovered creature called the “platypus,” most of them thought it was just a joke.

“The platypus is the most touchy, temperamental, unpredictable animal,” says Australia’s David Fleay, and he should know. Called “the platypus man,” Fleay is the world’s leading authority on one of ...