Nature
PUBLISHED
3
Undoubtedly up there with some of the weirdest animals on Earth, platypuses resemble a hodgepodge of about four different animals. These funky monotremes are found swimming around Australia's rivers, laying eggs (more on that later) and raising their young. But what do you call a baby platypus?
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Let's start with breeding
Of course, we have to mention the utterly bizarre phenomenon that is monotreme breeding. There are only two extant members of the order Monotremata, the platypus and the echidna, and they are the only living mammals to lay eggs.
Platypuses mate between August and September, and the female will lay usually two small, leathery eggs in a burrow on the side of the riverbank to be incubated. Typically, the eggs are incubated for around 10 days before they hatch. The newborn offspring will suckle milk from specialized sweat glands directly from the mother’s skin for around four months before they leave the nest.
So what are baby platypuses called?
While not fully accepted by everyone in the scientific community, the most common name for a young platypus is a "puggle". The Australian Museum suggests that platypuses are thought to reach sexual maturity at around a year old and can live as many as 20 years in the wild.
The name puggle is also used for the offspring of the other member of the monotreme family, the echidna. And, coincidentally, it's the name of the dog breed that is the product of a beagle crossed with a pug.
Puggles are often found on social media, but just be careful that what you’re looking at is actually a platypus and not a rock.
If you'd like to test yourself on other animal offspring names, check out what whale and fox babies are called.
