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THE PLATYPUS
BBC Science Focus
|September 2025
When European scientists first set eyes on the platypus, in the form of a pelt and a sketch shipped over from Australia in 1798, they couldn't believe it.
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The specimen was so bizarre that English zoologist George Shaw said it was impossible not to question its authenticity. Had a prankster sewn the beak of a duck onto the body of a beaver? To make sure, he examined the specimen thoroughly to check for any stitches.
With no seam in sight, Shaw became the first to formally describe the animal. He dubbed it Platypus anatinus, aka 'duck-like flatfoot,' but in time this was refined to Ornithorhynchus anatinus, aka 'duck-like bird-snout.'
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