Imagine stumbling upon a creature that looks like a mash-up of a duck, a beaver, and an otter—with a dash of poison thrown in ...

The platypus doesn’t fit into any particular category: it’s a mammal, but it lays eggs like a reptile. It has a duck-like ...

In his 1802 book, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Colonel David Collins wrote of the webbed and clawed feet that allowed the animal to swim and burrow with ease. He was also ...