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Article: Odd duck: the preposterous platypus has baffled and provoked scientists--even Charles Darwin.(Life)(duckbilled platypus)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- Current Science, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- March 18, 2005
- Author:
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In 1799, a crate shipped to England from Australia contained the specimen of a creature that looked like nothing seen before. One scientist, George Shaw, suspected that the specimen was a hoax, patched together from different animal parts--a furry coat, a ducklike bill, four webbed feet, and a flat. paddle tail. When more specimens of the same animal arrived, Shaw could only conclude that the creature was real. He named it the platypus, which means "flat-footed" in Greek.
To this day, the platypus fascinates and surprises. It impressed young Charles Darwin and figured in his revolutionary scientific theory. More recent findings about the animal have been truly ...