![]() ![]() Latin for beaver tail and similarity to the otter. These teeth are very similar to the teeth seen in mesonychids, an extinct group of semi-aquatic carnivorous ungulates, and resemble, to a lesser degree, the teeth of seals. Its likely lifestyle - burrowing in tunnels on shore and dog-paddling in water - reminds scientists of the modern platypus. These first molars were also recurved in a manner designed to hold slippery prey once grasped. This feature of three cusps in a row is similar to the ancestral condition in mammal relatives (as seen in triconodonts), but is almost certainly a derived character in Castorocauda. The Platypus uses its tail for storage of fat reserves (an adaptation also found in animals such as the Tasmanian Devil and fat-tailed sheep). ![]() Folds of skin cover their eyes and ears to prevent water from entering, and the nostrils close with a watertight seal. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes. Platypuses hunt underwater, where they swim gracefully by paddling with their front webbed feet and steering with their hind feet and beaverlike tail. The first two molars had cusps in a straight row, eliminating the grinding function suggesting that they were strictly for gripping and not for chewing. 43-50 cm inch The platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus ), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The teeth of Castorocauda suggest that the animal was a piscivore, feeding on fish and small invertebrates. The discovery of the fossil of a platypus-like creature in China is rewriting Jurassic history. Most docodonts had teeth specialized for an omnivorous diet. The teeth of Castorocauda are different in many ways from all other docodonts, presumably due to a difference in diet. Docodonts in general have distinctive teeth, and the teeth of Castorocauda have the distinguishing features of the group. The platypus is a bottom-feeder that uses its beaver-like tail to steer and its webbed feet to propel itself through the water while hunting for insects, shellfish, and worms. ![]()
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