Cesar: "Mrs. A. what are we gonna study
today?"
Mrs. A. "Well, Cesar, everyone hates Mondays, so pick
something entertaining for us, and that's what we'll
do."
Cesar: "How about the Duck-Billed
Platypus?"
class laughter ensues
Mrs. A. "HA! Great choice, Cesar. Let's start with
classification and see if YOU are anything like a
platypus!"
PPT begins
scientific name: Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Monotremata
Mrs. A. "Yes, Cesar, a mammal. Just like you. I knew
there was a resemblance. The Duck-Billed Platypus is one of only
three species of the monotremata order. These are the egg-laying
mammals.
Characteristics of mammals: Warm-blooded, have fur or hair and
females have mammary glands.
Cesar: "whoooaa. wait a minute, you mean it is like a
duck with hoo..I mean it has, you know, uhm."
Mrs. A. "Well, yes and no. The platypus does secrete
milk to nurse its young but it lacks nipples. Instead the milk
seeps out of modified sweat glands along the mother's
side.
Class: "EEWWWWWWW"
Mrs. A. "Hey, you wouldn't be eeeewwwwwwing if you were
a puggle"
Class: "What's a puggle?"
Mrs. A. "Baby Platypus."
Cesar: "What do they eat when they grow
up?"
Mrs. A. "OOH, Good question. One of the interesting
things about the Duck-Billed Platypus is that it detects its prey
with electronic impulses in its soft fleshy beak, and it eats
critters from the river (insect larvae, shrimp, mollusks, frogs and
fish eggs)
Cesar: "sounds like today's lunch"
Mrs. A. "And ...the male platypus has a poisonous horny
spur on its leg it uses in defense."
Class: "No way!...Cool...a what?...what did she
say?"
Mrs. A. "And now on to some childish platypus
humor:"
What do you get when you cross a Scotsman and a platypus? A
plaid-y-pus
What do you get when you cross a toilet and a platypus? A
potty-pus
A platypus walks into a bar and tells the bartender,"Got any
grapes?" The bartender says ,"No, now go away!." The platypus walks
int othe bar again and says, "Got any grapes?" The bartender
says,"No and if you ask me that one more time I'll staple your
webbed feet into the floor!" The platypus walks into the bar again
and says,"Do you have any staples?" And the bartender says,"No."
Then the platypus says,"Got any grapes?"
What are the similarities between a Plum and a Platypus? They
are both purple except for the Platypus.
A girl platypus walks into a store to purchase lipstick. "How
are you going to pay for this?" asks the cashier. "Just put it on
my bill," says the platypus.
What do you get when you cross a duck and a beaver? A
platypus.
What do you get when you cross a platypus and a geocache? A
smiley! Ready, Set, GO! 
