this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 202 points 3 months ago (6 children)

As a platypus lays eggs and produces milk, it’s the only animal that can make its own custard.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 3 months ago (4 children)

And echidnas.

I'm not sure if I'm and echidna custard or platypus custard kind of person.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Dark.

Also. Where can I try some?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (7 children)

DM me your card details and I’ll send you a couple of pints from my platypus farm.

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[–] [email protected] 134 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Also well known for foiling evil plots while wearing a fedora.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

fedora themed music starts playing

Do be do be do, bah
Do be do be do, bah

[–] [email protected] 103 points 3 months ago (4 children)

No stomach? Hadn't heard that one before

[–] [email protected] 61 points 3 months ago

If something is too weird, some of the oddities tend to get overlooked.

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They also don't have nipples (though do have mammary glands) and mother platypuses basically sweat milk through their skin for the pups to collect off their fur

[–] ramirezmike 43 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The milk pools in grooves on the mother's abdomen, allowing the young to lap it up.

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Evolution was all like: Ok, so which mutations would you like to advance? The venomous thing? The aquatic thing? The electrocuting enemies thing? The no stomach hack? The "Fun at parties" hack?

Platypus: Yes.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 3 months ago (2 children)

An excellent example of spending your points all over the place and somehow ending up with an actually pretty broken build.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Platypus have been around for over 110 million years. Nothing broken about that build!

[–] [email protected] 49 points 3 months ago (2 children)

"broken build" here likely refers to the phrase as defined by gamers to function as synonymous to "overpowered".

As in, "the build is so broken you can't/it is difficult to play against it". This phraseology could be used by either an ally or an enemy, but it contextually changes connotation from positive for allies to negative for enemies.

Build is often used as a shorthand for a character's combination of items, skills, and levels (as the various games define it).

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

After the platypus, evolution started looking into input validation.

[–] [email protected] 86 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The UV light thing wasn't discovered (or at least published) until 2020.
Phineas and Ferb ended in 2015.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Valid reason to bring it back.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 45 points 3 months ago (6 children)

If I remember correctly, they don't have mammalian glands and instead "sweat" thier milk for thier young.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

They have glands but no nipples.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They must have glands. Unless they have milk for blood.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Why... Wh- what? Do you sweat blood?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It is worth mentioning that when the first stuffed sample of platypus was sent to Britain, the scientists thought it is a joke.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 months ago (2 children)

No stomach?! Does food go straight to the colon?

[–] [email protected] 72 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

I went down this rathole.

They first grind up the bugs they eat in their mouths, then they have a chamber with bacteria which further reduce their food, then their intestines finish the job.

ETA, since you all are such curious cats:

https://wildlifefaq.com/platypus-stomach/

and

https://platypus.asn.au/platypus-myths/

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

so whats the chamber between the mouth and intestine called?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago

https://platypus.asn.au/platypus-myths/

The fact is that the platypus’s digestive tract does include a small expanded pouch-like section where one would normally expect a stomach to be located. The platypus’s stomach doesn’t secrete digestive acids or enzymes (Harrop and Hume 1980; Ordoñez et al. 2008), but does produce a mucus-rich fluid to assist nutrient absorption in the intestines (Krause 1971). Following on from the discussion of grinding pads above, it would seem that a platypus masticates food so thoroughly in its mouth that little additional processing is required before food reaches the intestines. Also, because a platypus consumes numerous small prey items over a period of many hours, its stomach doesn’t need to have a large holding capacity to accommodate infrequent large meals.

Sooo, "gullet"?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago

A pseudo-stomach? IDK...

I think since it's using bacteria and not acid, it's not a "stomach", just performs the same type of function.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 months ago

Yes, platypuses lost their stomach during evolution, so they basically grind food using gravel and their beak before sending it to the intestine, which has taken on some of the functions performed by stomachs in other animals. Source

[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Like the universe got lazy and hit the "Randomize for me" button instead LMAO

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Seeing living platypus is high on my bucket list, I'm still not convinced it's not a hoax

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (4 children)

You can just go see one at the zoo; they're usually with the marsupials and chupacabras.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ok who’s got pics of the glowing platypus?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (5 children)

And that's the reason you can only find platypuses in Australia.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Creationists: gOd WoRkS iN mYsTeRiOs WayS

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago

And Dan Povenmire was the first to discover the florescence. People Perry the platypus was more scientifically accurate than you thought.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (3 children)

It's a Pokémon. And so far, the only one with at least 4 types: water, poison, flying and electric. How the fuck can you even counter it?

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

It's also adorable! Also, the babies are called platypups!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

When you cheat and choose all the perks in the character creator.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm curious now how a mammal develops in an external egg. The process seems so weird.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago

I think they might've diverged from therians (placentals+ marsupials) before their ancestors became viviparous.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago

Bin parts build

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

They also have spikes in their hind legs that they use to deliver an extremely painful venom that can paralyze small animals.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Venomous? But...if not friend, why friend shaoed?????

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