When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Echidnas may have evolved from a water-dwelling ancestor in an unusual evolutionary event, ...

Close-up of a platypus swimming in the water A platypus wandering by a roadside in Australia stabbed a woman with its venomous spurs when she attempted to lift it from a gutter. Jenny Forward was ...

The platypus already looks like an animal assembled from spare parts, with a duck-like bill, webbed feet, and a beaver-style tail. On top of that, adult males carry a hidden weapon on each hind leg: a ...