Platypus bills
A list about evolution would be incomplete without the platypus, that furry denizen of Australian waterways. The mammal has a bevy of perplexing traits—it lays eggs, has a beaver-like paddle tail, glows in the dark, and males boast a venomous spur. Maybe I’m cheating by noting all of these. I’d like to focus on the platypus bill, which so confounded British scientists in the 18th century that they thought the animal was a forgery. The platypus bill contains electroreceptors and is the animal’s way of searching out invertebrates to eat on river bottoms. So, yeah. God bless the platypus.
