monotreme
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A short-nosed echidna. The female develops a temporary pouch during the breeding season, into which she transfers the single egg she has laid. The egg hatches 7–10 days later.
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When the platypus was discovered 200 years ago, scientists thought the first specimens were fakes. It has some birdlike features, such as the duck's beak and webbed feet; it also lays eggs. The body has some reptilian characteristics, but is covered with hair like a mammal. Like a mammal, the platypus feeds its young with milk.
Any of a small group of primitive egg-laying mammals, found in Australasia. They include the echidnas (spiny anteaters) and the platypus. (Order Monotremata.)
In 1995 Australian palaeontologists announced a new (extinct) family of monotreme, the Kollikodontidae, following the discovery of a 120-million-year-old jawbone in New South Wales.
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