Today I Learned…

Platypuses are an odd combination of animal parts — a duck’s bill, clawed feet (the claws are poisonous, by the way), and fur. They lay eggs — a very odd thing for a mammal to do. But the reproductive weirdness doesn’t stop there, oh no. The female platypus doesn’t have nipples, so the milk she makes to nourish her young is secreted through her skin, where it gathers in creases and folds, like sweat. The babies lap it straight from mama’s skin. (From Reader’s Digest , September 2019, “I Am Milk.”)