Gail Harvey, age 11, of Ft. Collins, Colo., or her question:
Does the platypus live on land or in water?
The furry platypus lives his life in and out of the water. He is an excellent swimmer, but he cannot breathe under water. His home is a deep tunnel in a muddy river bank. It ends in a cozy dry room where he has made a bed of grass and gum leaves. There is a front door and a back door to the underground home. The front door, the one he uses most often, opens under the water. The back door opens into thick brush some distance from the river. This back door provides ventilation and an extra escape route in case of trouble. The tunnels may be 30 to 50 feet long.
Most of the platypus's day is spent dozing in his cozy underground bedroom. He sleeps curled up in a furry ball. His duckbill nose, his webbed feet and his beaver type tail are neatly tucked inside the round ball of fur. Most of his hunting is done after dusk. He is a meat eater and his food must be eaten alive.
The famous duck‑like bill is very handy for dabbling in the mud where the platypus finds worms, snails and crustaceans. The bill is made of tough, leathery stuff and is filled with sensitive nerves. Two small shields of the tough bill extend up over his face. They prevent him from digging too deep and getting mud in his eyes.
Water insects are also on the platypus's diet. His bill is splendid for snapping and grabbing. It also serves to crush shells. However, the little fellow has only horny plates with which to chew. Strange to say, he had teeth as a baby. But they fall out long before he becomes an adult.
Once in a while, the platypus may take a short stroll on the dry land, but he never strays far from his river. Most of his walks are busy hunting trips along the river's muddy banks.
In the water, he is as skillful and as graceful as a beaver. This is where he uses his webbed feet and his wide, flat tail. The front paws do most of the rowing and swimming work. The tail is used for steering. Unlike the beaver's wide tail, the tail of a platypus is covered with long, coarse hairs.
When it comes to fur coats, the platypus is in a class with the handsome otter. The fur is thick and short and softer than the softest silk. It is the kind of fur coat that sheds the water.
The platypus lives a strange family life. When Mrs. Platypus gets ready for a new family she carefully plugs up her burrow and Papa is shut outside. When all is ready, she lays two or three small, round white eggs. She may gum them together to prevent their becoming lost in the nest. For nine or ton days she cuddles around them in a furry ball. Then they hatch into small, helpless, naked babies.
The Platypus rates as a mammal because Mama feeds her babies on mother s milk. They are milk fed for several months, by which time they are playful as puppies. Full grown the biggest will be two feet long, including tail. It is too bad these charming animals live only in Tasmania and part of Australia.