Why Do Platypuses Lay Eggs?

Why Do Platypuses Lay Eggs?
Author: Patricia Fletcher
Publisher: Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2017-07-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1538204010

The dictionary definition of a mammal says that mammals give birth to live young, but that’s not always true. Echidnas and platypuses, while still technically mammals, lay eggs. Why they do so is one of the strangest adaptations of mammals on Earth. Readers explore this and many other incredible and bizarre adaptations of all kinds of mammals, including the purpose of milk teeth and the hairy truth about camouflage and the coats of many animals. Full-color photographs showcase each adaptation for curious readers as they absorb information about life cycles, predator-prey relationships, and more from the main content.

Platypus Matters

Platypus Matters
Author: Jack Ashby
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2022-08-04
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 022678925X

"Naturalist and Assistant Director of the Museum of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, Jack Ashby shares his love for the platypus and other Australian mammals, including wombats, echidnas, and kangaroos. Informed by stories of his experiences meeting living marsupials and egg-laying mammals on fieldwork in Tasmania and mainland Australia and his close contact with thousands of zoological specimens collected for museums over the last 200 years, Ashby's book explains historical mysteries and debunks myths about these mammals and especially the platypus-which lays eggs, feeds its young on milk, has venom spurs, and sports a bill that can detect electricity. In evaluating how humans have considered these special mammals, he makes clear that calling these animals "weird" or "primitive"- or incorrectly implying that Australia is an "evolutionary backwater"-has only added to the challenges for their conservation. One outcome of these descriptions is that Australia now has the worst mammal extinction rate of anywhere on Earth. Ashby argues that many of the ways that the world thinks about Australia's mammals can be traced back to the country's colonial history"--

The Platypus

The Platypus
Author: Tom Grant
Publisher: UNSW Press
Total Pages: 86
Release: 1984
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Platypus

Platypus
Author: Ann Moyal
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2004-10-29
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780801880520

Eloquent and concise, Platypus uncovers the earliest theories and latest discoveries about this delightfully odd member of the animal kingdom.

The Echidna

The Echidna
Author: Pauline N. Reilly
Publisher:
Total Pages: 32
Release: 1990
Genre: Short-beaked echidna
ISBN:

Ecoviews

Ecoviews
Author: Whit Gibbons
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Total Pages: 223
Release: 1998-03-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0817309195

"The book celebrates the intrinsic worth of all plants and animals in order to motivate people in a unified effort to preserve the Earth's rich array of life forms."--Cover.

How to Talk to a Tiger . . . And Other Animals

How to Talk to a Tiger . . . And Other Animals
Author: Jason Bittel
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1647004594

A quirky compendium of animal chatterboxes Ever wanted to talk to a tiger? Or chatter with a cheetah? Or yak with a yak? This book brings together a babble of more than 100 beasties and explores the amazing ways they talk to each other. From fish that fart to alligators that dunk to fire worms that flash, you’ll discover that wildlife have the strangest ways of sending a message . . .

I, Mammal

I, Mammal
Author: Liam Drew
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2017-11-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1472922921

Humans are mammals. Most of us appreciate that at some level. But what does it mean for us to have more in common with a horse and an elephant than we do with a parrot, snake or frog? After a misdirected football left new father Liam Drew clutching a uniquely mammalian part of his anatomy, he decided to find out more. Considering himself as a mammal first and a human second, Liam delves into ancient biological history to understand what it means to be mammalian. In his humorous and engaging style, Liam explores the different characteristics that distinguish mammals from other types of animals. He charts the evolution of milk, warm blood and burgeoning brains, and examines the emergence of sophisticated teeth, exquisite ears, and elaborate reproductive biology, plus a host of other mammalian innovations. Entwined are tales of zoological peculiarities and reflections on how being a mammal has shaped the author's life. I, Mammal is a history of mammals and their ancestors and of how science came to grasp mammalian evolution. And in celebrating our mammalian-ness, Liam Drew binds us a little more tightly to the five and a half thousand other species of mammal on this planet and reveals the deep roots of many traits humans hold dear.

Red Pandas

Red Pandas
Author: Megan Borgert-Spaniol
Publisher: Bellwether Media
Total Pages: 24
Release: 2015-08-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1681030551

A close relative of the giant panda, these dwarfed mammals claim forest habitat as home. Red pandas have an extended wrist bone that acts like a thumb, helping them climb trees where they spend the majority of their time. Climb along with these furry animals in this informational title for beginner readers.

The Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass
Author: Paddy Docherty
Publisher: Union Square Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 1402756968

Thirty miles long, and in places no more than sixteen meters wide, the Pass is the principal route through the great mountain borderlands between India and Central Asia -- and the path of invasion for generations of conquerors. In this ground-breaking book, Paddy Docherty charts its remarkable story -- one which involves so many of the world's great leaders and civilizations, from the influential Persian kings to Alexander the Great, from the White Huns to Genghis Khan, not to mention the Ancient Greeks and countless tribes of nomads and barbarians. He paints an illuminating picture of mountain warriors and religious visionaries, artists, poets and scientists as well as describing how around the Pass emerged three of the great world religions -- Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam. He also depicts the Pass' more modern significance as a lawless region of gunsmiths, drug markets and as a terrorist hideout. Just a few years after the Soviet Union was defeated by the Afghan Mujahideen, many thousands of soldiers from the United States, Britain and other nations are struggling to control Afghanistan. Through his own travels in this true frontier region Paddy Docherty brings this epic history into the twenty-first century.