mcginnis@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (04/23/91)
Thanks for the answers about monotremes. The summary answer is that these animals (3 species: duck billed platypus, and the long and short snouted echidna, spiney ant-eater) have a common cavity called the urogenital sinus, or cloaca, into which all major internal organs that dump stuff outside of the body dump their stuff (urine, feces, and sperm). I haven't heard whether they have a separate uterus... I assume that they must. Apparently some other mammals other than monotremes (monotreme means "one hole" in Latin, I am told) have a urogenital sinus: armadillo and sloth for example. It sounds to me like monotreme is a misnomer and we use it to refer to oviparous mammals and that all of these animals (plus some others) happen to have a urogenital sinus. Sorry if I make misspellings or misuse terms... I'm just a computer nerd who's curious about this stuff. Actually, my interest was arroused by an article I read that said that the little echidna was the only known mammal that does not engage in REM sleep (a topic that I have been reading about because it is so similar to a "house cleaning" procedure used in neural network computer programming... but that's another topic). And, the echidna, coincidentially (?) has the largest (proportionally) prefrontal cortex of any mammal. Interesting stuff.
rcharman@bow.Princeton.EDU (Robert Craig Harman) (04/24/91)
In article <1991Apr23.082506.29920@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> mcginnis@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: >Apparently some other mammals other than monotremes (monotreme means >"one hole" in Latin, I am told) have a urogenital sinus: .... Monotreme comes from Greek, not Latin: monotreme << (Gk.) mon-, monos "alone", "single" + -trema, tre^ma "hole" << tetrainein, "to bore" Curiously, tetrainein stems from the same root as "throw" in English: tetrainein >> terere, L., "to turn" & dra^en, OHG., "to turn" >> thra^wan, OE., "to cause to twist, turn" >> thrawen & throwen, ME., "to cause to twist, throw" >> throw where ^ is a macron, Gk. is Greek, L. is Latin, OHG. is Old High German, OE. is Old English, and ME. is Middle English. Craig no .sig go .fig
bredy@alkp.serum.kodak.com (Dan Bredy (x37360)) (05/21/91)
In article <1991Apr23.082506.29920@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> mcginnis@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: >Thanks for the answers about monotremes. The summary answer is >that these animals (3 species: duck billed platypus, and the long >and short snouted echidna, spiney ant-eater) have a common cavity >called the urogenital sinus, or cloaca, into which all major internal >organs that dump stuff outside of the body dump their stuff (urine, >feces, and sperm). > Speaking of duck-billed platypuses, have any of these ever been raised in captivity? If so what zoos (preferably in North America) might one be able to see them in? Thanx, Dan
andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz.au (Andrew Taylor) (05/21/91)
In article <1991May20.170733.14785@ssd.kodak.com>, bredy@alkp.serum.kodak.com (Dan Bredy (x37360)) writes: > Speaking of duck-billed platypuses, have any of these ever been raised in > captivity? If so what zoos (preferably in North America) might one be able to > see them in? Platypus have been bred twice in captivity. The great self-trained naturalist David Fleay successfully bred a single platypus in Melbourne ~1941. The 2nd successful breeding was ~6 months ago at an Adelaide sanctuary. This involved a large enclosure which attempted to duplicate natural conditions. The birth was noticed until the young platypus was out of the den and swimming. Sydney's Taronga zoo has an excellent platypus exhibit. I believe Melbourne also has a good one. I don't know of any zoo outside Australia which has platypuses. Andrew Taylor
jday@spam.ua.oz (Jemery Day) (05/21/91)
In article <1991May20.170733.14785@ssd.kodak.com> bredy@alkp.serum.kodak.com (Dan Bredy (x37360)) writes: >Speaking of duck-billed platypuses, have any of these ever been raised in >captivity? If so what zoos (preferably in North America) might one be able to >see them in? > Platypus have bred twice in captivity in Australia. The first time was around the 1930's - 1940's, and despite many efforts has not been repeated until the last 12 months or so. Details of this first success can be found in a book by David Fleay, which has Platypus in the title and was published in Australia possibly in the 1960's. Warrawong Sanctuary, in the Adelaide hills, South Australia, has successfully bred platypus (3 babies I think). The parents were relocated from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, where an introduced (but not captive) population continues to thrive. Warrawong is more like a wildlife refuge than a zoo. It has a carefully constructed fence to keep out feral cats, foxes, dogs, goats, rabbits ... and has a collection of animals (indigenous to the area) which are given pretty free rein in the 30-40 acres of land inside the fence. They are not kept in cages nor are "on display" for the sole benefit of visitors. The platypus in question live in a series of artificial dams which were constructed to resembleplatypus natural habitat as closely as possible, and the breeding success was only noticed when the baby platypus were spotted learning to swim in the dams, in addition to the 6 original platypus. According to information from Warrawong Sanctuary, no other platypus have been bred in captivity, and the mortality rate of captive platypus is often extremely high. Sorry that I can't answer the second question - I have never been to North America - and besides, why should platypus in North American zoos follow directly from captive breeding success? >Thanx, > >Dan
abbott@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (John P. Abbott) (05/21/91)
Books by David Fleay: 1 Fleay, David Howells, Gliders of the gum trees, the most beautiful and enchanting Australian marsupials. Bread and Cheese Club Press,1947 2 Fleay, David Howells, Living with animals. Lansdowne Press 1961 3 Fleay, David Howells, Nightwatchmen of bush and plain; Australian owls and owl-like birds, Jacaranda 1968 4 Fleay, David Howells, Nightwatchmen of bush and plain; Australian owls and owl-like birds Taplinger 1972 5 Fleay, David Howells, Paradoxical platypus : hobnobbing with duckbills/ Jacaranda Press, 1980 6 Fleay, David Howells, Talking of animals / Jacaranda Press, 1956 (the end of each line was lost in the copy/paste, but you get the idea) #1 printed in 1947, #2 in 1961, #3 in 1968, #4 same as #3, different publisher, #5 in 1980, #6 in 1956. John Abbott NCSU Libraries
abbott@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (John P. Abbott) (05/22/91)
More Fleay-- AUTHOR: Fleay David Howells, 1907-. TITLE : We breed the platypus. IMPR : Melbourne, Robertson & Mullens, 1944. LANG : English John Abbott NCSU Libraries