Animal Discovery of the Day: Ancient Platypus Found

Scientists have recently uncovered an unknown species of platypus that lived 5 to 15 million years ago and is roughly three feet in length, making it nearly three times the size of the one known living species of platypus currently living in Australia. What struck scientists as odd was a single, particularly large tooth which suggested a rather different predatory diet than that of the platypus we know today.

This discovery suggests to experts that the evolution of the egg-laying mammal is quite a bit more complicated than previously thought.