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April 15, 2009

Platypus facts, for furry artists: (, , )

by fluffy at 8:37 AM
Dear furry artists who insist on drawing platypi:

  • They are not birds. The "duck" bill is an example of convergent evolution. They do not have feathers. They are not in any way "avian."
  • Their eggs are soft-shelled and leathery like a snake's, not hard like a chicken's.
  • The tail is shaped somewhat like a beaver's, but it's not actually a beaver tail (to start with, it's furred); it's a rudder and a fat reserve, not a piece of construction equipment. This also does not mean that they are in any other way like a beaver. In particular they don't have buckteeth, or in fact teeth at all. Moreover, this means that their tails are not like that of the following species:
    • Fox
    • Wolf
    • Squirrel
    • Dinosaur
    • Whatever the hell it is has long flowing locks of hair instead of a tail
  • They do not have breasts or nipples. They secrete milk directly through the skin. I suppose you could take some artistic license and make them a bit curvy but they still shouldn't have gigantic nipples with areolae.
  • Being monotremes (which literally means "one hole"), they have a cloaca, which the penis or vagina is hidden in. A hermaphroditic platypus would probably look just like a male platypus. They would not let it all "hang out."
  • Also, if you really must insist on drawing one in a state of arousal, the penis has four heads on it.

Comments

#12442 09/27/2009 01:15 am
I have learned something new tonight: it seems that platypi DO have a penis, which is stored inside the cloaca except during sex. It has four heads, however, which makes it significantly different than the specific image which led me to write the last fact (which was perhaps the precipitating factor behind this entire page).
#13975 05/31/2011 07:30 am
> Whatever the hell it is has long flowing locks of hair instead of a tail

Horse?
#13976 05/31/2011 08:19 am
holy déjà vú, Batman!