• Question: why are platypi or platypuses considered mammals when they lay eggs?

    Asked by pokemaniac to Emma, Jimmy, Janet, Niall, Simon on 15 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Niall Crawford

      Niall Crawford answered on 15 Mar 2013:

      almost all mammals give birth to live young, but not all – the exceptions being the platypus and the echidna (they’re known as monotremes). However, giving birth to live young isn’t a way of classifying something as a mammal. The two mammal traits are – 1) producing milk for the young, and 2) having hair.

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