The platypus isn’t as dependent on creating yolk proteins as birds and reptiles since it produces milk for its young. showed that platypuses still carry one of these three vitellogenin genes, despite having lost the other two roughly 130 million years ago, which allows them to continue to lay eggs. Chickens, on the other hand, continue to have all three. During our own evolution, humans dropped all three so-called vitellogenin genes. Vitellogenin, an egg yolk precursor that transports protein from the liver to become part of the yolk, is usually only found in the blood or lymph of egg-laying females. The research team was interested in the sex chromosomes of the monotremes, but the previous mapping of the platypus had only sequenced 25% of its chromosomes. Just why are platypuses so weird? One of the duck billed platypus’ strangest traits is that, although it lays eggs, it also has mammary glands used to feed its babies, not through nipples, but from milk that it sweats from its body. Do Platypus Sweat Milk? Credit: hobvias sudoneighm CC-BY It has preserved many of its ancestors’ original features - which probably contribute to its success in adapting to the environment they live in,” But genetically, it is a mixture of mammals, birds, and reptiles. “Indeed, the platypus belongs to the Mammalia class. In this ancient group, the 2 mammals that lay eggs are the platypus and the echidna. In fact, monotremes existed millions of years before the emergence of any modern-day mammal. Still, there is fossil evidence that they were once more widespread. The only monotreme animals are found in Australia and New Guinea. Monotremes are one of the three groups of living mammals, the others being placenta-bearing animals and marsupials. Said biology professor Guojie Zhang, University of Copenhagen. It holds the key as to why we and other Eutheria mammals evolved to become animals that give birth to live young instead of egg-laying animals,” At the same time, decoding the genome for platypus is important for improving our understanding of how other mammals evolved-including us humans. “The complete genome has provided us with the answers to how a few of the platypus’ bizarre features emerged. They aimed to investigate how these became two of the world’s oddest mammals. In 2021, an international team of scientists created a genome map of the platypus, along with one for the only other egg-laying mammal, the echidna ( Tachyglossus aculeatus).
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