What do you think of Platypuses?

[Sweets America]

Although they are really cute i can't help wondering how they taste ( i didn't before...it is your fault..that poll of yours ).

Ehehe, it's ok.

[SleepyWitch]

here's another one
I've got a pewter platypus figure on my bookshelf at home

[Sweets America]

here's another one
I've got a pewter platypus figure on my bookshelf at home

Awwwww, these animals are just so incredibly cute!!
The only thing that bothers me is that their 'beak' or snout would not be that pleasant to kiss (I like kissing my dog on the nose ). So I guess I would have to kiss my platypus on the forehead instead. Would still be cute. I've seen that their 'beak' is flexible, that's cute too.

[stephofthenight]

But there can only one Lote-Tree. There can only be ONE!

So pistols at dawn Herr Prince

Meet you there. Don't be late ;-)

I remember I don't miss ;-)

lote...i think you should seek help for your lancing addiction lol jk.. you always seem to find someone that you wish to lance eh? one might take you as unfriendly if you are not carefull always picking the battle...lol


....................i bet 20 on lote................... jk jk jk

[Lote-Tree]

lote...i think you should seek help for your lancing addiction lol jk.. you always seem to find someone that you wish to lance eh? one might take you as unfriendly if you are not carefull always picking the battle...lol


....................i bet 20 on lote................... jk jk jk

He he

But I did not pick this fight lassie....Princy thinks I am not Lote-Tree and that he is Lote-Tree!

What can I do Lassie? I should fight for my honour shouldn't I?

And you made the right bet

[Sweets America]

He he

But I did not pick this fight lassie....Princy thinks I am not Lote-Tree and that he is Lote-Tree!

What can I do Lassie? I should fight for my honour shouldn't I?

And you made the right bet

But, I am thinking of something... you are even throwing your lance at men now! I thought it was only to women you did that.

[barbara0207]

But there can only one Lote-Tree. There can only be ONE!

So pistols at dawn Herr Prince

Meet you there. Don't be late ;-)

I remember I don't miss ;-)

I'm ready to be second and referee. And I must say, Sir Lote, choosing the weapon yourself is rather un-knightly. As you are the challenger, your opponent may choose the weapon.

Well Prince, it's water-pistols, pea-pistols or plastic daggers. What do you choose?

[kratsayra]

about platypuses . . . when I was like 8 years old, I thought they were really cool since they are mammals but still lay eggs. To an 8-year-old obsessed with animals, that was something really exciting! I haven't thought much about them since then.

[crazefest456]

Platypuses are realllly cute..just like penguins...and bunnies.

[Weisinheimer]

Am I the only one that thinks platypuses are incredibly ugly? Look at those horrid feet, ugh .
At the same time I think they're really fascinating, you know, the whole mammals that lay eggs thing.

[Lote-Tree]

But, I am thinking of something... you are even throwing your lance at men now!

Only to scare them with the Size of it all

[Lote-Tree]

I'm ready to be second and referee.

Ah Lady Guinevere...Sure

And I must say, Sir Lote, choosing the weapon yourself is rather un-knightly.

But I am Sir Lance-Lote - the lance is an extenstion of myself

As you are the challenger, your opponent may choose the weapon.

He is the challenger! I am the real Lote-Tree

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Doesn't anyone else wonder what they would taste like in a sauce?

Yes, I do.

Am I the only one that thinks platypuses are incredibly ugly? Look at those horrid feet, ugh.

There is another thing as yet unmentioned about those feet that makes the "They are cute animals, I want one as a pet." option less attractive: They have poisonous spurs!

Adult males have a pointed spur (about 15 millimetres long) located just above the heel of each hind leg, which can be used to inject poison produced by a gland in the thigh (the crural gland).

If provoked, a male platypus can use his spurs as a defensive weapon. In the days when platypus were shot for their fur, dogs were sometimes killed after being sent to retrieve a wounded male from the water. These days, people mainly get spurred when they handle a platypus which has become hooked inadvertently on a fishing line.

Platypus venom is not considered to be life-threatening to a healthy human. However, spurring is painful - in part, because platypus spurs are sharp and can be driven in with great force. As well, platypus poison triggers severe pain in the affected limb and can result in quite spectacular localised swelling.

So there you have it: Don't pet them... Did you notice just how the keeper is holding the platypus in the pictures in the beginning of this thread? Looks a bit awkward, doesn't it? Now you know why.

Added in edit:

I had a duck-billed platypus when I was up at Trinity,
With whom I soon discovered a remarkable affinity.
He used to live in lodgings with myself and Arthur Purvis,
And we all went up together for the Diplomatic Service.
I had a certain confidence, I own, in his ability,
He mastered all the subjects with remarkable facility;
And Purvis, though more dubious, agreed that he was clever,
But no one else imagined he had any chance whatever.

I failed to pass the interview, the board with wry grimaces
Took exception to my boots and then objected to my braces,
And Purvis too was failed by an intolerant examiner
Who said he had his doubts as to his sock-suspender's stamina.
Our summary rejection, though we took it with urbanity
Was naturally wounding in some measure to our vanity;
The bitterness of failure was considerably mollified,
However, by the ease with which our platypus had qualified.

The wisdom of the choice, it soon appeared, was undeniable;
There never was a diplomat more thoroughly reliable.
The creature never acted with undue precipitation O,
But gave to every question his mature consideration O.
He never made rash statements his enemies might hold him to,
He never stated anything, for no one ever told him to,
And soon he was appointed, so correct was his behaviour,
Our Minister (without Portfolio) to Trans-Moravia.

My friend was loved and honoured from the Andes to Esthonia,
He soon achieved a pact between Peru and Patagonia,
He never vexed the Russians nor offended the Rumanians,
He pacified the Letts and yet appeased the Lithuanians,
Won approval from his masters down in Downing Street so wholly, O,
He was soon to be rewarded with the grant of a Portfolio,
When on the Anniversary of Greek Emancipation,
Alas! He laid an egg in the Bulgarian Legation.

This untoward occurrence caused unheard-of repercussions,
Giving rise to epidemics of sword-clanking in the Prussians.
The Poles began to threaten, and the Finns began to flap at him,
Directing all the blame for this unfortunate mishap at him;
While the Swedes withdrew entirely from the Anglo-Saxon dailies
The right of photographing the Aurora Borealis,
And, all efforts at rapprochement in the meantime proving barren,
The Japanese in self-defence annexed the Isle of Arran.

My platypus, once thought to be more cautious and more tentative
Than any other living diplomatic representative,
Was now a sort of warning to all diplomatic students
Of the risks attached to negligence, the perils of imprudence,
Beset and persecuted by the forces of reaction, O,
He reaped the consequences of his ill-considered action, O,
And, branded in the Honours List as 'Platypus, Dame Vera',
Retired, a lonely figure, to lay eggs in Bordighera.

/Claes

[TheFifthElement]

There is another thing as yet unmentioned about those feet that makes the "They are cute animals, I want one as a pet." option less attractive: They have poisonous spurs!

The whole concept of keeping any animals as pets is disturbing to me, like a cruel form of long term torture. Imagine, if a man found a woman 'cute', would it be okay to divorce her from what would be her natural environment, her environment of choice, and keep her, effectively, a prisoner without any chance of self-determination, choice or will for the rest of her life, and foist kisses and other such affections on her as though this makes up for the act of subjugation.

I wonder, if it was acceptable or normal to act towards other humans in this way, would we continue to do so in relation to animals? Is it just another expression of our desire to have dominion over something else, albeit largely well intentioned? If dogs could speak would they say 'let me be a dog'?

I say, if you love them set them free. (or perhaps Sting might have said it, but if he did I agree!)

[Sweets America]

The whole concept of keeping any animals as pets is disturbing to me, like a cruel form of long term torture. Imagine, if a man found a woman 'cute', would it be okay to divorce her from what would be her natural environment, her environment of choice, and keep her, effectively, a prisoner without any chance of self-determination, choice or will for the rest of her life, and foist kisses and other such affections on her as though this makes up for the act of subjugation.

I wonder, if it was acceptable or normal to act towards other humans in this way, would we continue to do so in relation to animals? Is it just another expression of our desire to have dominion over something else, albeit largely well intentioned? If dogs could speak would they say 'let me be a dog'?

I say, if you love them set them free. (or perhaps Sting might have said it, but if he did I agree!)

I agree with what you say here. Though, about dogs, I am certainly not part of those who want to dominate their dog. I have never considered myself as my dog's master, we are equals, and I would say that in some ways I actually still have a lot to learn from him.

His company, friendship and love are such an important part of my life. I am trying to make him as happy as he makes me. I know there is a part of selfishness in keeping an animal, I think you're right. But, without everything my dogs have shared with me, I would certainly not be the same person today. I owe them so much.

I wonder if dogs would like to be left alone, living their doggy life. Maybe. When I wander in the countryside with my dog, I try to give him all the time he wants to sniff whatever he feels like sniffing, I let him decide and I am happy with wherever he goes. I think he is happy with me. I feel it in the way he comes to my arms, snuggles up with me and falls asleep on my lap.

Now, I gues the situation with dogs is different from the situation with wild animals. I know I would feel guilty to take a wild animal as a pet.