What on earth is a platypus? Even its name seems strange. When Europeans first heard the startling news of a newly discovered creature called the “platypus,” most of them thought it was just a joke.

With a beaver’s tail, webbed feet, and a duck’s bill, platypuses are one of the world’s strangest-looking creatures. They are such an unusual mammal that the first scientists to study them believed ...

The platypus is found only in Australia, where it spends most of its life swimming in freshwater ponds and streams. Its incredibly sensitive bird-like bill contains thousands of electroreceptors.

I have only seen one platypus in the wild in my three-quarters of a century, despite extensive travels across Australia’s vast outdoors. It was in a pool below a waterfall on the Atherton Tablelands ...

Rescued from Australia’s fires, a small fleet of wild platypuses is launched back into their wetland home and into an uncertain future. A sedated female platypus received a physical exam at the ...