Ever wonderd what platypus do eat? In this article, I’m going through the diet of these fascinating mammals. You will also learn a lot about hunting habits and other related stuff.
Duck-Billed Platypus Diet
Platypus are carnivores what means that they will spurn everything that is not in the category of meat. That being said, they are mostly after small prey. Insects, larvae and invertebrates are their favorite food.
What Animals Do Platypus Eat?
Due to the missing teeth and stomach, larger animals don’t have to be afraid of hunting platypuses. They like to eat small prey that they can crush easily with their grinding plates.
However, occasionally frogs, amphibia and small fish might find their way into the platypus’ stomach. But that should be exceptional.
What Plants Do Platypus Eat?
That’s an easy question. Platypus don’t eat plants at all. No cauliflower, no grass, no walnuts, no seaweed.
What Animal Eggs Do Platypus Eat?
They eat eggs of any animal that lives in the water when the eggs aren’t too big. Mostly we talk about eggs of insects, crustaceans and fish in this regard.
I know some of you interested in whether platypus eat shark eggs or not. As sharks live in saltwater and mammal in freshwater rivers and lakes they don’t eat shark eggs. But if they would find one, they will for sure try it out.
What Species Of Crayfish Do Platypus Eat?
Platypus eat freshwater crayfish like yabbies that live in Australia. Apart from that other crustaceans like crabs and shrimps are on their menu
What Insects Do Platypus Eat?
This question is also easy to answer: every insect that lives in the water preferred at the ground or in between gravel.
Larvae of mosquitoes, flies and beetles are only some of the favorites.
Additionally, other invertebrates are on the menu regularly. I’m talking mostly about snails in worms in this regard.
How Do Platypus Hunt?
Platypus forage in rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. As semiaquatic animals, they live and breed on land, but their whole diet relies on water. They are quite shy and you can mostly observe them at dusk and dawn.
As they close their eyes and nostrils, platypuses need another system to locate their prey. That’s where their typical duckbill, which feels somehow like soft wet rubber when you touch it, into play.
Over 40000 electroreceptors are placed all over the bill. With these, the platypus can locate prey due to electrical signals. The animal turns its head from side to side to gather as many signals as it can.
In general, platypus are bottom feeders that only hunt on the ground of waters. Free swimming larvae and insects are only an occasional snack. While hunting they gather every potential prey in their cheek pouches until they emerge again.
Lunchtime is when they arrive back at the surface. And soon after they swallowed what they have found, it’s time for another dive and more food.
Male platypuses are also venomous. But they use their poison only to defend themselves and to fight with other males over a female. They don’t use the venom for hunting purposes.
The hunting behavior is one of many reasons, why platypus make so terrible pets.
How Much Do Platypus Eat?
Platypuses eat a whole lot, which is quite surprising regarding the fact, that all their food is high in calories. However, a platypus can weigh up to 3 lbs and eats appr. 20 % of its own body weight daily. In numbers that are 0.6 lbs of food every day.
I bet you can imagine what it means to fill this need with small prey only. The animal usually spends up to 12 hours a day hunting. Each dive lasts 30 to 90 seconds and only a short time on the surface is enough to recover.
The hunting behavior also explains why the animal needs to eat so much. It’s just really energy-consuming.
That being said, platypuses can store energy in the form of fat in their tai
How Do Platypus Eat?
When platypus catch food from the bottom, they occasionally fetch some gravel and store it in their pouches too. Back on the surface, they grind up their prey between plates in the bill. As platypus don’t have teeth, stones they caught accidentally help with crushing the food.
How Do Platypus Eat Without A Stomach?
Platypuses don’t need a stomach with strong acids to digest their food. Everything their diet contains can be easily digested by the intestine itself. After grinding the food platypus swallow and everything goes directly into the intestine, shells and other hard parts are spluttered.
Do Platypus Have Teeth?
No platypus don’t have teeth. They only feed on small prey and don’t need teeth. The animal crushes and grinds its food with plates that are in the bill.
However, baby platypuses have milk teeth which they lose when they leave the burrow of the parents.
How Does A Platypus Feed Its Young?
The babies are nursed by their parents the way other mammals do it. That said, the absence of teeth and a stomach is not the only unique thing about the platypus.
The young are also fed in a way that no other animal does. But before you make your guesses, the milk teeth of the young don’t have any purpose nor has the mother nipples.
Milk simply seeps out of the glands of the mother animal. It’s the only source of food until the baby platypuses learn to forage food on their own.
