What is the maximal age a Platypus reaches?
An adult Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) usually gets as old as 22 years.
Platypuss are around 12 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 1.13 kg (2.49 lbs) and measure 2.37 meter (7′ 10″). As a member of the Ornithorhynchidae family (genus: Ornithorhynchus), their offspring is 2 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 41.9 cm (1′ 5″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species appear in the fossil record.Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Like other monotremes it senses prey through electrolocation. It is one of the few species of venomous mammals, as the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans.The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, and the first scientists to examine a preserved platypus body (in 1799) judged it a fake, made of several animals sewn together.The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology, and a recognisable and iconic symbol of Australia. It has appeared as a mascot at national events and features on the reverse of the Australian twenty-cent coin, and the platypus is the animal emblem of the state of New South Wales.Until the early 20th century humans hunted the platypus for its fur, but it is now protected throughout its range. Although captive-breeding programs have had only limited success, and the platypus is vulnerable to the effects of pollution, it is not under any immediate threat.
Animals that reach the same age as Platypus
With an average age of 22 years, Platypus are in good companionship of the following animals:
- European rabbit usually reaching 18 years
- Cape porcupine usually reaching 20 years
- Red-bellied titi usually reaching 25.25 years
- Ross seal usually reaching 21 years
- Red river hog usually reaching 20 years
- Red-shanked douc usually reaching 25 years
- Fringed myotis usually reaching 18.25 years
- Finless porpoise usually reaching 23 years
- Thorold’s deer usually reaching 18 years
- Cheetah usually reaching 19 years
Animals with the same number of babies Platypus
The same number of babies at once (2) are born by:
- Mechow’s mole-rat
- Greater mole-rat
- Peters’s striped mouse
- Black-tufted marmoset
- Himalayan striped squirrel
- Lesser yellow bat
- Serval
- American black bear
- Watson’s climbing rat
- Southern African spiny mouse
Weighting as much as Platypus
A fully grown Platypus reaches around 1.48 kg (3.27 lbs). So do these animals:
- Tree pangolin weighting 1.54 kilos (3.4 lbs) on average
- Black flying squirrel weighting 1.19 kilos (2.62 lbs) on average
- Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur weighting 1.62 kilos (3.57 lbs) on average
- Brazilian three-banded armadillo weighting 1.49 kilos (3.28 lbs) on average
- Greater grison weighting 1.4 kilos (3.09 lbs) on average
- Monjon weighting 1.26 kilos (2.78 lbs) on average
- Eastern lowland olingo weighting 1.24 kilos (2.73 lbs) on average
- Tolai hare weighting 1.59 kilos (3.51 lbs) on average
- Steppe polecat weighting 1.69 kilos (3.73 lbs) on average
- Black jackrabbit weighting 1.27 kilos (2.8 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a Platypus
Those animals grow as big as a Platypus:
- Alpine woolly rat with 44.2 cm (1′ 6″)
- White-throated guenon with 45.7 cm (1′ 6″)
- Small dorcopsis with 38.7 cm (1′ 4″)
- Campbell’s mona monkey with 45.5 cm (1′ 6″)
- Golden palm civet with 48.8 cm (1′ 8″)
- Palawan stink badger with 39 cm (1′ 4″)
- Philippine flying lemur with 38 cm (1′ 3″)
- Atlantic titi with 36.2 cm (1′ 3″)
- Hispid hare with 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- Three-striped night monkey with 35.8 cm (1′ 3″)