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There are only 2 mammals on earth that lay eggs; one is the platypus and the other is?

Question #120719. Asked by 29CoveRoad.
Last updated May 21 2021.

pirate
Answer has 16 votes
pirate
24 year member
19 replies

Answer has 16 votes.
Platypus and echidna

Jul 18 2002, 2:11 AM
Senior Moments
Answer has 15 votes
Senior Moments

Answer has 15 votes.
All mammals that lay eggs are placed in the group (Order) called Monotremata. The members of this Order (monotremes) are found only in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Monotremes have eggs with a flexible, sticky, leatherlike shell. The eggs are incubated and hatched outside the body of the mother. There are only three living monotremes, the duck-billed platypus and two species of echidna, or 'spiny anteaters'. Monotremes are not a very diverse group today, and there has not been much fossil information known until rather recently.

In some ways, monotremes are very primitive for mammals because, like reptiles and birds, they lay eggs rather than having live birth. In a number of other respects, monotremes are rather derived, having highly modified snouts or beaks, and modern adult monotremes have no teeth. Like other mammals, however, monotremes have a single bone in their lower jaw, three inner ear bones, high metabolic rates, hair, and they produce milk to nourish the young.

link http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/mammal.html

Response last updated by CmdrK on May 21 2021.
Jul 18 2002, 4:55 PM
author
Answer has 8 votes
author
22 year member
2834 replies

Answer has 8 votes.
One is the Platypus.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus

Another is the Echidna.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna

Actually there are three living and two extinct species of the Echidna or Spiny anteater. Here is another of the living ones, the Zaglossus.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaglossus

And here is the actual creature that is also known by this name, the Short-beaked Echidna.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-beaked_Echidna

Feb 06 2008, 10:31 AM
22crows
Answer has 26 votes
Currently Best Answer
22crows
18 year member
555 replies

Answer has 26 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
The echidna

Echidnas, also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. There are four extant species, which, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna

Mar 16 2011, 1:03 AM
ker4orcas
Answer has 10 votes
ker4orcas

Answer has 10 votes.

Response last updated by PDAZ on Aug 22 2016.
Mar 16 2011, 12:36 PM
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