Evolution geneticists anticipated finding the most similarities between these two species. “The new genomes of both species will enable further insights into their innovations and the biology and evolution of these extraordinary egg-laying mammals.”Īs the only two species in the Monotremes order, the investigators studied both platypus and echidna genomes. The author of January’s report, Yang Zhou (pictured left) of Beijing Genomics Institute in China, summarized the goal of the report – The new genome is 96 percent mapped, meaning individual genes are in their proper locations on the chromosomes, compared to 25 percent in 2008.” “The platypus genome was first sequenced in 2008…, the quality and completeness of this new genome analysis is a massive improvement…. It’s hard to blame him: What other animal has a rubbery bill, ankle spikes full of venom, luxurious fur that glows under black light, and a tendency to lay eggs?”Īlex Fox, a science journalist, writing for the Smithsonian Magazine in the article entitled “Platypus Genes Are Just as Odd as the Creature Itself,” explains the significance of the report – “When the British zoologist George Shaw (his platypus drawing pictured right) below first encountered a platypus specimen in 1799, he was so befuddled that he checked for stitches, thinking someone might be trying to trick him with a Franken creature.
In the New York Times article entitled “A Question Hidden in the platypus Genome: Are We the Weird Ones?” writer and researcher Cara Giaimo (pictured right) gives a snapshot intro for the platypus paradox story – This January’s journal Nature reports on the most comprehensive investigation of the platypus genome ever performed.Įntitled “Platypus and Echidna Genomes Reveal Mammalian Biology and Evolution,” the report generated immediate and widespread media coverage on nature’s only two known egg-laying mammals. To gain an understanding of this evolution icon, scientists have long-awaited insights from its genome.
That’s not all the list of oddities goes on. The platypus produces venom, like a reptile, and uses electroreception, like a shark – a puzzle known as the platypus paradox dilemma. As one of the least understood living mammals, and unlike any other known species, it has ten sex chromosomes. Like a reptile, it lays eggs, yet, it nurses with milk without nipples.
Its bizarre characteristics seem to defy a natural explanation. The platypus puzzles naturalists and scientists alike.
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