Thursday, November 1, 2007

Though the platypus and whale lay eggs, why are they considered mammals?

http://www.genevaschools.org/austinbg/class/gray/platypus/adult1.gif
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041025/gallery/platypus_zoom.jpg
Platypus

http://www.sharkattackphotos.com/Killer-whale.jpg
Whale

A mammal, by definition, breathes air into the lungs, is warm blooded, feeds its offspring milk and has body hair. Mammals evolved from reptiles some 70 million years ago and some like whales returned to the waters approximately 16 million years after leaving it. The platypus is a duck-billed, beavertailed and otter-footed poisonous mammal that is also special because it lays eggs. However, the eggs develop in the uterus for a much longer time than that of egglaying non-mammals and the young ones are fed milk — something unique to mammals. It is believed that monotremes (the class of platypus-like mammals) branched from other mammals early in evolution. The other mammals evolved into either placental or marsupial groups. The class of mammals that evolved into whales do not lay eggs at all.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

God what a retard.you need to research more cause whales dont lay eggs aretard.the only 2 mammals that ever and i mean EVER lay eggs are the duck-billed platypus and the echidna.both are found in australia and both have little holelike spores that produce milk for their young.study more and stop being such a retard.im 11 and i know more abot it than you.