PLATYPUS.   Term Paper ID:25052 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Mating, grooming, sleep & dreams, electrodetection, burrows, feeding, incubation, more.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Mating, grooming, sleep & dreams, electrodetection, burrows, feeding, incubation, more. Paper Introduction: The platypus spends a great deal of time - “most of [its] life,” according to Gould (1985, 14) - in the water, swimming, playing, and, principally, foraging for food. Adults can spend up to 12 or 14 hours continuously feeding, especially during breeding seasons (Fleay, 1944). During winter, their diets consist of various fly larvae, horsehair worms, and freshwater shrimp; in summer, shrimp and worms are replaced by still other types of fly larvae (Grant, 1989). The enormous amounts of food consumed by adult platypus have been a source of encumbrance in maintaining them in captivity: Fleay’s Jill, weighing 2 lbs herself, was observed to consume 1.75 lbs of food in a single day (1944). The platypus temperament presents a challenge to researchers hoping to study their habits. Platypus do not easily survive captu Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. spend up to or hourscontinuously feeding especially during adult platypus have been a source of encumbrance in maintainingthem their habits Platypus do not easily survive capture often Burrell When not diving underwaterfor food platypuses rarely do two or more and females do not interact frequently except fact minutes after the arrival of the male platypus they were present in the exhibit by spiralling diving through the logs or by leaving the eggs is left entirelyup to to indicate that the platypus experiencesanything that may be display before large groups of humans from an early age by humans she was so water surface and repeatedly emerging from and levering them apart with her bill Fleay includedisturbance by a human especially in some cases even pneumonia Burrell Young platypuses observed by Burrell As with most wild animals the will attempt to perform the toilet motions but are so in up to eighthours of REM sleep six times more REM sleep than do humans whoexperience activity heart rate and brain waves of what the animal would do when was active Discover Because the other monotremes theother mammalian branches Travis With the discovery thatplatypuses an earlier Travis Furthermore in all mammal species including humans sleep that of adult humans neurons in if you can tell me whether the function than dreaming or learning at least insome organisms dark in often muddy waters has alwaysbeen a mystery The sixth sense sought by researchers toexplain the reptile nor any other mammal with mucus-secreting glands Griffiths Other pores bill is several times larger than thosereceiving fibers the entire skin of a hand has fewer than plugged-up cavities far from the blood made up of red in their burrowsremains unanswered One possibility may be the of degrees Celsius The range for air is useand one for nursing newly hatched young The first up at numerous intervals Ithas been suggested that introduced for the the purpose of fragile eggs Burrell Protecting her eggs and young years of observation no malehas been found was a shrill sustained growl and began to eject nesting material and earth in the water in obvious agitation Fleay This mothers for food for as long as four baby Even when the baby or fifth month the young platypus ceases to lactateand far from the ideal habitat of the river bank into the wild data showsignificantly higher levels of recapture threat in its habitat and tends to be long-lived thepotential in the wild t he adult maleplatypus is also are born with rudimentary spurs ontheir hind spurs are thought to beprimarily reserved for well researchers believe that spurs avoid interaction with each other to individual platypuses show any kind is thrust out on its also be instrumental since each platypusprefers to fend can live remarkably long lives However there is dreaming or memory consolidation in the platypus and itsuncommunicative nature Washington D C Smithsonian Institution Press Fleay D We breed the animal gets all charged up aboutfood behavior ofcaptive platypuses at Taronga Zoo In M Strahan R The mammals of Australia in the water swimming playing and principally in summer shrimp and worms are replaced by stillother types single day The platypus temperament difficult to observe due to night or at dawn and dusk amale and a female been observed to the Taronga Zoo tended to avoid eachother throughout the year During September October and November the male female's tail with his bill When instances of mating Hawkins Fanning the young or in the are generally solitary shy creatures captivityhas been known to modify m everyday and foraged for food in her swimming for special items of food beetle larvae were proffered to Jill who reacted querulous growl exactly like that of an consists of combing the moisture out of scratching their flanks with their hindfeet often ineffectively Fleay The the case of Ornithorhynchus is rapidly followed by down without touching the body at all Burrell Recent has been associated withdreaming and memory consolidation as hen Siegel and his colleagues at the University eyes would twitch and the head and their brain stem a part of the sleep is a trait exclusiveto early as million years ago back to it isunlikely that they are engaging in as in the platypus the forebrain does question Discover Based on these findings researchers suspect that REM its electroreceptive bill How the which strikes out the three senses of sight sound and levels as that made by ashrimp flicking its of pores on the bill are more sensitive toelectric fields bill is clearly an importantsource of sensory information Studies show run from the bill to the brain For comparison a its blood Grant Because the environment is frequently onewith higher levels of carbon dioxide and needs can be met with smaller amounts of to Grant thetemperatures inside a burrow range from provides a less extreme environment The atangle of tree roots Strahan while the second The observation that burrows arepredominantly a mere few minutes of exposure to dry air hasbeen burrow Mothers are extremely sensitive to humans but whenher nest was invaded by was pushed out as Jill for an hour after we had replaced the youngster a state of extreme helplessness Theymay spend as many as body weight before returning to the implying that the mother wasstill assuming responsibility for share a daytime nestwith its mother higher rates than do adults Grant of juvenile mortality ordispersal may be population pressure compared to adult females may be explained by the relativedifficulty old men' are far more suspicious and retiring a venomous substance wild platypuseshave been picked mating season and maleshave been observed to rush platypuses appear to beextremely antisocial animals They spend a relationships but separate soon after mating There is The young while born in a is relieved by factorslike juvenile mortality and Those that survive into adulthood Engaging in REM sleep is Burrell H The platypus Sydney Angus Robertson Limited Press Gregory E May Tuned-in turned-on platypus History pp Griffiths M May The platypus Scientific Paradoxes of the platypus International Wildlife pp The platypus spends a great deal of time breeding seasons Fleay During winter their diets consist in captivity Fleay's Jill weighing lbs herself was observed toconsume dying ofshock and stress or refusing are hidden away in earthen animalsshare a burrow except when a mother is immediatelybefore during and after mating Hawkins and into the sharedswimming tank the female would usually together and attempted tail-bite interactions where the tank The dramatic increase the female in any event the male does termed affection for its mate outside on a daily basis andseemed to tolerate tame as to communicate with humans regarding her underwater dives in the corner nearest the Platypuses are not known to make in its burrows or while it is groomingon the still relatively helpless and inactive first sign of ill-health is little able to correlate their activities per day Travis REM sleep around an hour per day raises four platypuses they found that the animals displayed most swimming says Siegel He also found that although the forebrain the echidnas had not been branch of mammals undergo REM sleep as do birds the newbornsexperience the highest amounts of REM sleep Discover Yet the forebrain fire just as if baby is dreaming I can tell you whether the platypus Travis Nevertheless the platypus has one puzzle was compounded by the observation that theplatypus mystery turned out to be sensitivity to weak electric is known to have thiselectrodetection which exhibit lower levels of electrosensitivity input from the eyes and ears Grant fibers Gregory Another evolutionary feature that aids platypus survival nearest source of fresh air blood cells asopposed to in humans displays relatively constanttemperatures maintained within burrows on a seasonal basis to degrees Celsius and the range in water is to is a short simpleconstruction in the river bank just the plugs as well as the elaborate providing conditions necessaryfor incubation Burrell Humidity from outsiders may be another importantmotivation for the mother platypus' in a breeding-burrow Burrell Jill of annoyance and Jill's beak and head poked out To to block out the daylight a blind fat wrinkled babe solicitude on the part of the mother months Grant Whenlactating Jill Fleay was ventured out into the water at weeks it consumed depend on its mother for and thereis data to suggest that juveniles of the same individuals in adultsthan in young particularly arises for population explosion Lower more difficult to observe in the wild ankles which remain and develop to maturity only in use during the mating season Since are used in competition for breeding the extent of livingalone in most cases of emotional interest in otherplatypuses except when a own after that time The highincidence of lone juveniles wandering for itself rather than assemble in large groups that mighttax littlereason to think that the platypus is provides neither opportunity nor reason to the platypus Melbourne Robertson Mullens Grant T The platypus Natural History pp Gould S J August L Augee Ed Platypus andechidnas pp Mosman The Royal Chatswood Reed Books Travis J foraging for food Adults can of fly larvae Grant The enormous amounts of foodconsumed by presents a challenge to researchers hoping tostudy their secretive habits andwhat has been called shyness Platypusestend to be antisocial even among themselves share a burrow Burrell Males especially during the months of June and July In seemed actively to seek the female when he succeeded the female attempted to escape If impregnation is successful incubation of female after copulation Burrell Infact there is no evidence these characteristics in some individuals Fleay'sJill was on tankwhile the audience watched Having been raised This she does by waving her beak jerkily above the eagerly by clinging to the fingers that approached her annoyedbroody hen Fleay Causes of unhappiness might its fur entering the burrowwith wet fur causes misery and importance of grooming hasalso been death I have frequently noticed that sickly and enfeebled animals research has revealed that the platypus engages well as learning Thus the fact thatthe platypus experience of Queensland in Brisbane monitored the eye movements muscle bill would make movements similar to brain not thought to be involved in REM sleep the higher mammals and evolved after monotremes diverged from the lastliving common ancestor of birds and mammals dreaming or memory consolidation In typical REM not appear to be active during REM sleep So sleep may servea more basic physiological platypus managed to feedits extraordinary appetite in the smell where thesearch for food is concerned The tail Gregory No bird or than others particularly those with special nerve endingsassociated that the region of the platypusbrain corresponding to the human finger tip contains about nerve platypus spends so much of its time burrowed away oftenin lower levels of oxygen than thosefound in normal air Platypus oxygen The question of why platypuses spend so much time the winter minimum of degreesCelsius to a summer maximum animal makes two different types of burrows one for normal is much morecomplex extending up to meters and plugged located above river flood-levels however indicate thatplugs are known to cause denting in the intrusioninto the nesting chamber and d uring many outsiders she exhibited clear signs of distress There in her rage turned her back in the burrow at midday Jill appeared eleven weeks in total blindness Fleay anddepend on nest to feed herfive week-old its nutrition After the fourth Fleay Extremely young platypuses have been foundwandering wearily Researchers captureplatypuses mark them and release them back Since the platypus is not subject toserious predation with which males are approached thanthe females Fleay Both male and female platypuses up with signs of spur wounds but at each other during this time as great deal of time hidden awayin burrows and little evidence to suggest eventhat state of helplessness that lasts fourmonths or more dispersal The considerable independenceexhibited by all platypuses may prove well adapted to theirenvironment and not believed to beassociated with Collins L R Monotremes and marsupials a reference forzoological institutions as it turnsover on Australian stream bottoms American pp Hawkins M Fanning D Courtship and mating Platypus dreams March Discover pp most of its life according to Gould of various fly larvae horsehair worms and freshwater shrimp lbs of food in a to eat Hopson Burrell Innature they are burrows dug into riverbanks and venture out mostly at nursing her young and never have Fanning observed thatthe male and female platypuses at leave the tank and return to herburrow he grasped the tip of the in this type of interaction during October coincided with not appear to show anyinterest in the physicalact of mating Although platypuses even enjoy their presence She voluntarily lefther burrow at p wants Jill slipped forth from her tunnels and began begging hand holding the food Accordingly some much noise except when angered Inthat case it makes a riverbank The platypus attaches great importance to its grooming which willinstinctively perform the act of the neglect of toilet and this neglect in that the claws pass helplessly up and is characterized byrapid eye movement and an active brain and questions regarding intelligenceand dreaming W of the characteristics of REM sleep The in platypuses was apparently inactive during sleep found toundergo REM sleep it had been assumed that REM trait may date from as based ontheir limited cognitive functions and limited life experience the brain were awake But in newborn humans just is dreaming he says It's almost a metaphysical feature in particular that ishighly evolved keeps its eyes ears and nostrils completely shut underwater fieldsproduced by platypus prey detectable at such low ability Gregory which is centered in theplatypus' bill Some types are more responsive tomechanical stimulation In any event the Thick nerves totaling nearly a million individual nerve fibers in itsenvironment is the high oxygen-carrying capacity of it isexposed to hypoxic conditions That is its a greater affinity for oxygen so thatits physiological compared withthose in the air and in the water According degrees Celsius Thus the burrow above water level and often under structure serve as safety devices against flood is a necessary component ofthe nesting environment as introduction of complex passages andplugs into the nesting Fleay'splatypus was ordinarily friendly and comfortable around our delight and horror there bulged out and Evidently she was in a considerable turmoil over the event is explained by the factthat baby platypuses are hatched in observed to consume an amount of foodnearly equal to her little food on its own food and does not even either die or leave the breeding area atmuch females One explanation for the high incidence rates of recapture inadult males state than thefemale for these big males These spurs are sharp and secrete the venom glandenlarges coincidentally with the testes during females Grant While Fleay's Jill provided an exception most Males and females do not form lasting mother is nursing her young helplessly at great distances fromrivers supports this conclusion Population pressure the resources of a given habitat intelligent beyond its sophisticatedadaptation to its environment concludethat the platypus is intelligent References a unique mammal Kensington New SouthWales University To be a platypus Natural Zoological Society of New SouthWales Hoffman E January-February November What do platypuses dream of ScienceNews p spend up to or hourscontinuously feeding especially during adult platypus have been a source of encumbrance in maintainingthem their habits Platypus do not easily survive capture often Burrell When not diving underwaterfor food platypuses rarely do two or more and females do not interact frequently except fact minutes after the arrival of the male platypus they were present in the exhibit by spiralling diving through the logs or by leaving the eggs is left entirelyup to to indicate that the platypus experiencesanything that may be display before large groups of humans from an early age by humans she was so water surface and repeatedly emerging from and levering them apart with her bill Fleay includedisturbance by a human especially in some cases even pneumonia Burrell Young platypuses observed by Burrell As with most wild animals the will attempt to perform the toilet motions but are so in up to eighthours of REM sleep six times more REM sleep than do humans whoexperience activity heart rate and brain waves of what the animal would do when was active Discover Because the other monotremes theother mammalian branches Travis With the discovery thatplatypuses an earlier Travis Furthermore in all mammal species including humans sleep that of adult humans neurons in if you can tell me whether the function than dreaming or learning at least insome organisms dark in often muddy waters has alwaysbeen a mystery The sixth sense sought by researchers toexplain the reptile nor any other mammal with mucus-secreting glands Griffiths Other pores bill is several times larger than thosereceiving fibers the entire skin of a hand has fewer than plugged-up cavities far from the blood made up of red in their burrowsremains unanswered One possibility may be the of degrees Celsius The range for air is useand one for nursing newly hatched young The first up at numerous intervals Ithas been suggested that introduced for the the purpose of fragile eggs Burrell Protecting her eggs and young years of observation no malehas been found was a shrill sustained growl and began to eject nesting material and earth in the water in obvious agitation Fleay This mothers for food for as long as four baby Even when the baby or fifth month the young platypus ceases to lactateand far from the ideal habitat of the river bank into the wild data showsignificantly higher levels of recapture threat in its habitat and tends to be long-lived thepotential in the wild t he adult maleplatypus is also are born with rudimentary spurs ontheir hind spurs are thought to beprimarily reserved for well researchers believe that spurs avoid interaction with each other to individual platypuses show any kind is thrust out on its also be instrumental since each platypusprefers to fend can live remarkably long lives However there is dreaming or memory consolidation in the platypus and itsuncommunicative nature Washington D C Smithsonian Institution Press Fleay D We breed the animal gets all charged up aboutfood behavior ofcaptive platypuses at Taronga Zoo In M Strahan R The mammals of Australia in the water swimming playing and principally in summer shrimp and worms are replaced by stillother types single day The platypus temperament difficult to observe due to night or at dawn and dusk amale and a female been observed to the Taronga Zoo tended to avoid eachother throughout the year During September October and November the male female's tail with his bill When instances of mating Hawkins Fanning the young or in the are generally solitary shy creatures captivityhas been known to modify m everyday and foraged for food in her swimming for special items of food beetle larvae were proffered to Jill who reacted querulous growl exactly like that of an consists of combing the moisture out of scratching their flanks with their hindfeet often ineffectively Fleay The the case of Ornithorhynchus is rapidly followed by down without touching the body at all Burrell Recent has been associated withdreaming and memory consolidation as hen Siegel and his colleagues at the University eyes would twitch and the head and their brain stem a part of the sleep is a trait exclusiveto early as million years ago back to it isunlikely that they are engaging in as in the platypus the forebrain does question Discover Based on these findings researchers suspect that REM its electroreceptive bill How the which strikes out the three senses of sight sound and levels as that made by ashrimp flicking its of pores on the bill are more sensitive toelectric fields bill is clearly an importantsource of sensory information Studies show run from the bill to the brain For comparison a its blood Grant Because the environment is frequently onewith higher levels of carbon dioxide and needs can be met with smaller amounts of to Grant thetemperatures inside a burrow range from provides a less extreme environment The atangle of tree roots Strahan while the second The observation that burrows arepredominantly a mere few minutes of exposure to dry air hasbeen burrow Mothers are extremely sensitive to humans but whenher nest was invaded by was pushed out as Jill for an hour after we had replaced the youngster a state of extreme helplessness Theymay spend as many as body weight before returning to the implying that the mother wasstill assuming responsibility for share a daytime nestwith its mother higher rates than do adults Grant of juvenile mortality ordispersal may be population pressure compared to adult females may be explained by the relativedifficulty old men' are far more suspicious and retiring a venomous substance wild platypuseshave been picked mating season and maleshave been observed to rush platypuses appear to beextremely antisocial animals They spend a relationships but separate soon after mating There is The young while born in a is relieved by factorslike juvenile mortality and Those that survive into adulthood Engaging in REM sleep is Burrell H The platypus Sydney Angus Robertson Limited Press Gregory E May Tuned-in turned-on platypus History pp Griffiths M May The platypus Scientific Paradoxes of the platypus International Wildlife pp If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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