Clipmarks | Platypus Clips

Answers in Genesis: Yeah, that's the Ticket

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:24:42 GMT

clipped by: jedipunk

Clip Source: debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com

The Young-Earth Creationist doesn't even deal with the fact that animals cannot migrate long distances through deserts or ice fields without dying first. They adapt to conditions in the location which they exist and if the ecology changes in that location and they cannot complete their life cycle, they die. There's no attempt there to explain how a koala bear, who can only eat Eucalyptus leaves could travel from Turkey to Australia without going extinct first. There's no attempt to explain how an aquatic species like a duck-billed platypus could complete its life cycle during the "mini-Ice Age" that followed the flood while all the water was frozen. The truth of the Genesis account is simply asserted and no explanation is given for these problems.

Tags: creationism, noah's ark

Living Fossils

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:45:01 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: Interesting...

Clip Source: www.popsci.com

Living Fossils

These mysterious creatures exist today more or less unevolved from the forms they had hundreds of millions of years ago

Platypus

the platypus is one of the strangest creatures on Earth. It's technically a mammal because it is covered in fur and produces milk

diverged from reptiles 166 million years ago

Opossum

only marsupial in North America,

Crocodilia

Alligators and crocodiles are perhaps the most obvious candidates for a family tree with short branches leading back to the long-dead.

Tuatara

tuatara may lose the first half of its topical designation and become, simply, a fossil

Okapi

okapi is a solitary animal which exclusively populates the rainforests of the Congo.

Lamprey

today's lampreys are slightly longer than those from hundreds of millions of years ago

Horseshoe Crab

horseshoe crab is a marine creature

non-adaptive time in the ocean

Coelacanth

Ginkgo

Nautilus

Nautiloidea subclass is rich with a diversity of shell shapes and forms.

Vampire Squid

Frilled Shark

Tags: animals, fish, plants, mammals, fossils, anthropology

Kangaroo Island

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:30:04 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: been-seen.com

Kangaroo Island in South Australia has been described as 'one of earth's last unspoilt refuges'. It's a place to find koalas hanging out in trees, seals lounging on beaches, platypus, wallabies, goannas, and of course kangaroos. You'll also find a brand new luxury lodge there. The exclusive Southern Ocean Lodge, located on a rugged cliff on Hanson Bay, opened in March of this year to rave reviews.

Kangaroo Island (dubbed Australia's Galapagos) is seven times the size of Singapore at 4,500 sq km. And half of the native bushland remains the same way it was when the island was discovered. In fact, over one-third of the island is under conservation.

Southern Ocean Lodge has 21 rooms, all with ocean views. The style is 'eco chic', making the most of the natural vistas with panoramic windows that cantilever along the coast, but ensuring abundant creature comforts inside.

Tags: australia, hotel, refuge

Platypus

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:43:12 GMT

clipped by: DresdenKurosaki
clipper's remarks: With our powers combined

Clip Source: www.snorgtees.com

Tags: funny, animal, platypus

Platypus disease mapped

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:30:31 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Tasmania is such a pristine place that it is hard to imagine anything effecting the fauna. Imported frogs.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

The deadly fungal disease affecting the Tasmanian platypus is being mapped.

The disease can cause large ulcerations on the back, tail and feet of the platypus affecting their ability to maintain body temperature and forage efficiently.

It's thought the native fungus which causes the disease may have originated from introduced frogs and has been present in Tasmania for at least 25 years.

Nick Gust from the Department of Primary Industries and Water says mapping the presence of the disease is an important first step in dealing with the problem.

"In order to have a sensible response to this disease we really need to get some baseline information on the disease and work out what sort of threat it poses to these animals and from there we can respond appropriately," he said.

Tags: nature

Platypus Genome Explains Animal's Peculiar Features; Holds Clues To Evolution Of Mammals

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:07:32 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Wonderful piece of patchwork

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The ancient, patchworked platypus is a relatively unchanged animal that may be a scientific boon for researchers, who are learning a lot from its recently decoded genome about mammalian gene regulation and immune systems, which could have huge implications for human disease susceptibility research. (Credit: Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria, Australia)

ScienceDaily (May 7, 2008) — The duck-billed platypus: part bird, part reptile, part mammal — and the genome to prove it.

An international consortium of scientists, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has decoded the genome of the platypus, showing that the animal's peculiar mix of features is reflected in its DNA. An analysis of the genome, published today in the journal Nature, can help scientists piece together a more complete picture of the evolution of all mammals, including humans.

Tags: science

The Platypus Has No Stomach

Fri, 30 May 2008 18:23:00 GMT

clipped by: Matthew Herper
clipper's remarks: A strange fact learned via Carl Zimmer, who got it from the journal Genome Biology.

The platypus genome was the subject of much fanfare recenty. (It's amazing how many organisms are getting sequenced lately -- P&G actually funded the sequencing of the organism that causes dandruff.)

It turns out some key genes involved in the digestion are missing, and that this shouldn't be surprising because the platypus apparently lost its stomach somewhere along the evolutionary path that led it away from other mammals. It seems to be alone among vertebrates in this strange feat.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Species can evolve when their genes are modified, or when they acquire new ones. But the platypus turns out to be a great example of how species can evolve by losing genes.

When scientists sequencing the platypus genome matched up genes from the platypus to the genes from other mammals, a bunch of genes were missing from the duck-billed creature's DNA. They were genes for protein-cutting enzymes called proteases.

The scientists then looked at other genes for proteins that typically get made in the stomach.

Here's what makes these losses really weird: Platypuses have lost their stomach.

Why platypuses would lose their stomachs while almost no other vertebrate has over the past 400 million years is a question I'd love to hear the answer to.

In Honor of Gary Larson

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:21:41 GMT

clipped by: mbagen
clipper's remarks: I have a theory that most people who like animals fall into one of two categories, based on the nature of their interest. The first are the Jane Goodall types, who enjoy animals for their peaceful habits, for their gentleness, for their intelligence, and whatnot. I can respect that.

Then there are those of us who grew up reading Gary Larson's Far Side. We have a very...specialized interest in animals. This quote, relating to the Duck Billed Platypus and courtesy of www.cracked.com perfectly illustrates my philosophical interest in animals of the platypus's timber. It is small. It is seemingly made up of nature's spare parts. It is still, nonetheless, capable of crippling you. Have a nice day, bipeds.

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

The platypus is mother nature's way of saying, "I made this thing out of spare parts I found on the workshop floor, and it can still fucking cripple you."

Tags: animals

The platypus genome

Tue, 13 May 2008 12:48:39 GMT

clipped by: jedipunk

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Over and over again, the newspaper lead is that the platypus is "weird" or "odd" or worse, they imply that the animal is a chimera — "the egg-laying critter is a genetic potpourri — part bird, part reptile and part lactating mammal". No, no, no, a thousand times no; this is the wrong message. The platypus is not part bird, as birds are an independent and (directly) unrelated lineage; you can say it is part reptile, but that is because it is a member of a great reptilian clade that includes prototherians, marsupials, birds, lizards and snakes, dinosaurs, and us eutherian mammals. We can say with equal justification that we are part reptile, too.

Now look at the cladogram. Birds (archosaurs) and lizards and snakes (lepidosaurs) exhibit meroblastic cleavage. Marsupials and eutherians divide holoblastically. To say that the platypus is part bird because of that is misleading; what we'd say instead is that meroblastic cleavage is likely to be a primitive character

Tags: science, evolution, genome

It's a bird, it's a beaver...it's a platypus

Sat, 10 May 2008 14:18:04 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: "Ever since it was discovered by bemused European explorers in Australia 200 years ago, the mammal has fascinated schoolchildren and baffled scientists."

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

If you need evidence that God - or Evolution - has a sense of humour, look no further than the duck-billed platypus.

The oddest creature ever to grace on the planet, the platypus lays eggs like a bird, produces milk like a cow and releases snake-like venom from its ankles.

A cross between a beaver and a duck, it has the tail of a beaver, the webbed feet of an otter and an enormous bird-like bill.

Now, in a move that is shedding light on the evolution of the platypus and all mammals, including humans, scientists have decoded its DNA for the first time.

The findings confirm that the species is a cobbled together mix of reptile, bird and mammal and could even lead to the development of new drugs base on chemicals in the creature's milk and venom.

The creature's milk contains antimicrobial chemicals which protect young from infection.

Research into the creatures' venom could also lead to new painkillers

Mammals, such as humans, have two sex chromosomes that determine gender. The platypus has 10.

Tags: animals, platypus, australia, nature, science

'bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality'

Thu, 08 May 2008 15:15:04 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: The fact that the animal has five X and five Y chromosomes is "the weirdest thing about a very weird animal," said Ewan Birney, a co-author on the paper, based at the European Bioinformatics Institute, near Cambridge. "In theory it means there are 25 possible sexes, though in practice that doesn't happen."

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A DNA study found the creatures to be a mix of mammal, bird and reptile with, even more strangely, 10 sex chromosomes

Platypus proves even odder than scientists thought

At first dismissed as a prank, and later cited as proof that God has a sense of humour, the duck-billed platypus has finally given up its evolutionary secrets

The creature, considered one of the strangest mammals in the world, has become the latest to have its genetic code sequenced, revealing it to be a bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality. While humans have two sex chromosomes, the X and Y, the platypus has 10, with five of each kind

An international team of scientists extracted DNA from a female platypus, named Glennie, reading all 2.2bn pairs of her genetic "letters". Thought to have begun to diverge from other mammals 170m years ago, the platypus has been regarded as the nearest thing biologists have to a missing link between the earliest reptiles and mammals

Platypus Genome As Weird As Platypus

Thu, 08 May 2008 11:26:58 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: One very well related animal. The pride of Australia.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

May 7, 2008 -- Arguably the oddest beast in nature's menagerie, the platypus looks as if were assembled from spare parts left over after the animal kingdom was otherwise complete.

Now scientists know why. According to a study released Wednesday, the egg-laying critter is a genetic potpourri -- part bird, part reptile and part lactating mammal.

The task of laying bare the platypus genome of 2.2 billion base pairs spread across 18,500 genes has taken several years, but will do far more than satisfy the curiosity of just biologists, say the researchers.

"The platypus genome is extremely important, because it is the missing link in our understanding of how we and other mammals first evolved," explained Oxford University's Chris Ponting, one of the study's architects.

"This is our ticket back in time to when all mammals laid eggs while suckling their young on milk."

But the peculiar mix of body features are clearly reflected in the animal's DNA, the study found.

Tags: nature, science

Australian platypus genome a link to evolution

Thu, 08 May 2008 07:53:12 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Australia's unique duck-billed platypus -- an egg-laying, furry animal with web feet that spends most of its time underwater -- is in fact part bird, part reptile and part mammal according to its gene map

A team of international scientists released the platypus genome on Thursday, saying its complex sequence would aid the study of human evolution -- particularly the development of the immune, nervous and reproductive systems

The platypus represents the earliest offshoot of the mammalian lineage, some 166 million years ago, from primitive ancestors that had features of both mammals and reptiles

The scientists compared the platypus genome with human, mouse, dog, opossum and chicken genomes and found that the platypus shares 82 percent of its genes with these animals

Scientists said platypus sex chromosomes may help study sex determination in mammals and infertility in humans

had genes that allowed the platypus to detect odors underwater

are found in dogs and rodents that use smell to forage

Tags: platypus, genome, evolution, study, clues, information

Platypus Genome Is as Weird as Its Looks

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:53:31 GMT

clipped by: nohobot

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

It's part-reptile, part-mammal, part-bird – and totally unique. Two centuries after European scientists deemed a dead specimen so outlandish it had to be a fake, the bizarre genetic secrets of Australia's platypus has been laid bare.

Platypuses lay eggs and produce venom like some reptiles, but they sport furry coats and feed their young with milk like mammals. The odd creatures are classed as monotremes, with only one close relative – the echidna.

And while the gene that the human sex-determining gene evolved from is present in the platypus genome, it seems to have nothing to do with sex determination. So, that function must have evolved after the platypus split from our common ancestor, about 166 million years ago.

"It looks like the platypus started from the same suite of genes, but did completely different things with them," says Graves.

The draft genome sequence should also help to end the platypus's identity crisis, Graves says.

Clipmarks | Platypus Clips

Answers in Genesis: Yeah, that's the Ticket

Living Fossils

Living Fossils

Platypus

Opossum

Crocodilia

Tuatara

Okapi

Lamprey

Horseshoe Crab

Coelacanth

Ginkgo

Nautilus

Vampire Squid

Frilled Shark

Kangaroo Island

Platypus

Platypus disease mapped

Platypus Genome Explains Animal's Peculiar Features; Holds Clues To Evolution Of Mammals

The Platypus Has No Stomach

In Honor of Gary Larson

The platypus genome

It's a bird, it's a beaver...it's a platypus

'bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality'

Platypus proves even odder than scientists thought

Platypus Genome As Weird As Platypus

Australian platypus genome a link to evolution

Platypus Genome Is as Weird as Its Looks

Some are freaky...

25 Worlds Weirdest Animals

NEW!!! Leafy seadragon

Sun Bear

Komondor Dog

Angora Rabbit

Red Panda

Sloth

Emperor Tamarin

White-faced Saki Monkey

Tapir

Hagfish

Star-nosed Mole

Proboscis Monkey

Pink Fairy Armadillo

Axolotl

Aye-aye

Alpaca

Tarsier

Dumbo Octopus

Frill-necked Lizard

Narwhal

Sucker-footed Bat

Pygmy Marmoset

Blobfish

Platypus

Shoebill

Yeti Crab