Platypus facts, for furry artists: (aminals, artwork, rant)
by 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.
