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Science

The Platypus: Good For You 42

Posted by Hemos from the thems-good-eatins dept.
egglayingmammalophile writes "Cute, webfooted, duck beaked, cold blooded, egg laying, electrosensitive and venomous, it didn't seem possible that they could get any weirder. But now the platypus is also good for you."
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The Platypus: Good For You More

The Platypus: Good For You

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  • 3rd Grader's report (Score:4, Informative)

    by ralphb ( 15998 ) on Monday February 17, 2003 @08:45AM (#5318498) Homepage
    For a little background, check out my daughter's 3rd grade science report on the Platypus:

    Dick-Billed Platypus [ralphb.net]

  • I cant be the only one... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cyno01 ( 573917 ) <Cyno01@hotmail.com> on Monday February 17, 2003 @09:27AM (#5318659) Homepage
    who thought from the summary that is was about eating Platypi.
    • Nope, I honestly thought that the article was about eating the poor things. Though I wonder how it would be prepared and how it would taste. Little Duck a l'orange with beaver sauce? Now I'm curious.
    • Yeah, I'm right there with you.
      It just sounded like "they're good for you!" meant "it's chock-full of protiens, vitamins, minerals and all that good nutritional stuff!"

  • What the article is actually about... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Kopretinka ( 97408 ) on Monday February 17, 2003 @09:46AM (#5318740) Homepage
    So, in short the article is about a finding that platypus venom, a non-leathal poison, may lead to better painkiller drugs.

    I thought the summary in the /. posting might say at least a word about that. 8-)

  • ...to the venom.

    I wonder if the venom affects them differently?

    If pain and swelling lasts for months in humans, does it also in the paltypus?

    If not, why? I suspect that the differences in the physiology of the platypus may help them to counteract the effects of the venom from other males. This might be important as well, ie. the study of how their tissues interact with the poison.

    In other words, study what chemicals and proteins the paltypus uses to reeuce the swelling and pain caused by the venom.
    • I think the point of the venom is to "fend" off other males in mating season, as per the article. I guess this venom acts both locally (i.e. the longterm swelling) and in the brain (on the pain receptors). I'm also thinking the platypus gets a bit more of a shock than we do when the poison is released...but sometimes evolution just hasn't perfected it's defenses, this may just be one of those cases.

  • Cone Shells (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Ratso Baggins ( 516757 ) on Monday February 17, 2003 @12:03PM (#5319526) Homepage
    This is not new, cone shells (a mollusck) can shoot out a spike and inject venom which WILL kill you in less than 10 secs (4?).

    Scientists have seperated certain agents in the venom which, when grately diluted, are excellent pain killers for chronic pain, apparently with little or no habbit forming problems (don't they always say that)

    Apparently this is a popular idea - treating chronic pain with venom derivatives.

    • Some people with chronic arthritis sting themselves with wasps (or was it bees?) to take down the swelling.

      I wonder if cobra spit is good for eye infections ;- )

    • I don't know, if I've got chronic pain, and I can take something to make it stop, I'm going to form a habbit to take it, reenforced by pain whenever I don't :-)

  • Other Venomous Mammals (Score:2, Informative)

    by foote ( 441858 )

    The article states that the platypus is the only venom-producing mammal. There are actually a few others.

    The European water shrew and the North American short-tailed shrew are venomous. They use their poisonous bite to kill frogs, mice, and whatever other little creatures they eat. The bite of the solenodon [umich.edu] (Solenodon paradoxus) of Haiti is poisonous as well.

    • Then there's also cats. The retractible claws are havens for all sorts of bacteria, a good fraction of which are opportunistic pathogens. Get scratched by a housecat, you get a bit of inflamation. Get mauled by a cougar, if it doesn't kill you outright you'll be on a heap of antibiotics from bacterial infections in your cuts and the infection still is supposed to be extremely nasty. While not strictly venemous, because of cat scratch fever big cats might as well be.
    • Not truly venomous themselves, but Echidnas, or spiny anteaters(also natives of Au), are also quite posinous. They eat mostly toads, and when they do they rub the toads severed poisin glands all over their spines. Another interesting fact, they're the world only other monotreme(egg laying mammal) besides the Platypus.
      • Echidnas are poisinous themselves, spurs like the platypus. Its hedgehogs that rub toad poisin on their spines.
      • And you can go pet one at the San Diego zoo.

        They have an Echidna in the petting zoo there. I visited it fairly often, and it was always curled up in the corner. I suppose they have it there because it's well protected & not aggressive.

  • Not cold blooded (Score:4, Informative)

    by 0x0d0a ( 568518 ) on Monday February 17, 2003 @01:51PM (#5320236) Journal
    The platypus is closer to having a cold-blooded metabolism than most mammals, but it's still warm-blooded, contrary to what the story submissions claims.

  • Not the only poisonous mammals (Score:3, Informative)

    by automandc ( 196618 ) on Monday February 17, 2003 @02:16PM (#5320428)
    Interesting, but the Article is wrong in at least one respect: the Platypus is not the only mammal that produces venom.

    According to this [vienna.at] website, certain shrews produce venom. Also, the Cuban shrew-like animal Solenodons [jhu.edu] also produces venom in its mouth.

    And, just to set the record straight, only male Platypii have venomous spurs. Lastly, Platypii are one of three still-living members of the mammalian subgroup known as "monotremes."

    An excellent online resource for information about the animal kingdon is the University of Michgan's Animal Diversity Web [umich.edu].

    • Interesting, but the Article is wrong in at least one respect: the Platypus is not the only mammal that produces venom.

      You've obviously not met my ex-girlfriend. Wait - snakes are reptiles. My bad.

  • Platypus wings... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Hubert_Shrump ( 256081 ) <cobranet@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Monday February 17, 2003 @02:26PM (#5320489) Journal
    Hot and Spicy, or Extra Crispy?

    Venom? No thanks. Well, on the side for my little girl.


  • afterall monotremes are mammals too... :-)

  • Folks, it's platypuses [reference.com] and viruses [reference.com]. "Platypus" is derived from Greek, and "virus" is derived from a fourth declension noun, whose nominative plural in Latin ends in "-us", not "-i".
  • The source article says >"... the platypus version comes in two forms. A small part of the protein in one form is present as the mirror image of its counterpart"

    Can anybody translate this a into scientifically meaningful statement? I know about chirality, are they saying that one form is made of L-amino acids? Or is it just something like alpha helices that pair up and the reporter didn't know how to describe it?

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